#moor lough at sunrise | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jimhellier · 5 years ago

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USING LIGHT TO CREATE MOODY LANDSCAPES

In landscape photography, it is important to try and capture the mood or atmosphere of the scene. This can take many forms from peaceful and tranquil, to the electrifying scene of a roaring river in full flood. The mood or atmosphere in an image can help draw the viewer into the scene and make it more intimate to the viewer.

To capture these scenes to full effect you need to understand light such as the golden hour; the time just before and after sunrise and sunset. The length of time that this soft light lasts depends on the location and time of year. So we need to know what time sunrise or sunset is and be at the location in plenty of time to set up our equipment ready to shoot. There are many APPS you can download to your smartphone to aid with this, also checking weather reports will give you an indication of what weather to expect on the day you plan to shoot your landscape.

This image of Cattle on Lough Down was captured just after sunrise. Lough Down overlooks the Thames Valley, and on this day there was a light mist in the valley, the sun was in front of me to my right which enabled me to keep the suns rays out of my camera lens. The cattle are in silhouette, and golden light catches on the mist. The mood is quiet and peaceful you can almost hear the cattle munching away on the grass.

Cattle on Lough Down

Cattle on Lough Down was captured using medium format transparency film which I still enjoy using. I find that working in manual mode slows you down and allows you to think about what you are doing, capturing landscape images should not be rushed.

In some cases, it may enhance the mood of an image if it is captured in black and white. The next image is of the Cuckmere river in East Sussex. This was captured close to sunset and I am looking towards the sun and using the backlighting from the sun to help create the mood and atmosphere in the image.

Cuckmere Haven East Sussex

In this image the backlighting helps show the silver of the river as it flows to the sea, allowing the land to go into deep shadow with the dark clouds in the sky, with the sun just about to disappear below the horizon. The mood in this image, to me, is peaceful and quiet a stillness, the end of the day, just sitting and watching the sun go down. There is a stillness in the scene.

This Image again is the Thames Valley from Lough Down

In this photo, called Sunrise in Autumn, I wanted to capture the mist lying on the river as it flowed through the valley, the mist showing its course. I am looking east with the sun to my left, trying to capture a mystical ethereal mood of the great river flowing through the valley and onto the sea. This is a scene I keep trying to improve on, I have captured it many times and each time it is different. This image was captured in the autumn, and it is interesting to note how the sunrise moves through the year, and it is worth keeping this in mind when capturing landscapes images. Side lighting is a favourite for landscape photography, but I do take a lot of images looking towards the sun as I like the backlight effect in the images, but you do need to be very careful of the sun’s rays in your lens.

St Pauls bay Malta

This is a sunset image St Pauls bay in Malta I was not using any filters on the camera in this image to create the starburst. This is my favourite way to capture a sunset, sat with a glass of wine watching the sun going down, camera all set up and press the shutter release when you are ready. Here allowing the foreground to go into deep shadow and metering on the highlights the sky creates the intended mood in this case.

Sunset Abaco Sound Green Turtle Cay Bahamas

Another backlit shot looking across Abaco Sound from Green turtle Cay. No filters again and captured on film (I was using Fuji Velvia 50 ASA on a medium format camera). It was the stillness of the scene I wanted to capture, the yacht moored in the Sound and the pier on the right, and the gentle lapping of the sea on the shore.

All the images in this set are backlit to create a similar mood to this scene.

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