Photographing in the "Right Light"
Idaho, 2013
What is the right time of day to take photos? What makes it the right time? It all depends on what you are photographing and what you are trying to communicate through the image. In this post I talk about how I captured this photo.
Right Place, Right Light
When I first started photographing landscapes, I had no clue what I was doing, so some of my shots were good, and some were bad and I did not even know why or what made them so. When I took the featured photo in this post, it was complete luck—somehow all the elements aligned and I was at the right place at the right time, without even knowing it. I just knew that there was something about the light and color in the distance that I wanted to capture.
I set up the tripod and started shooting. You can see the thumbnails of the original photos. They are not great, but one thing they all have in common is that amazing light that was lighting up the landscape that evening. I think that if the light and the time of day were different, I would not even notice this scene.
The Post-Process
Since the original light is great, and the composition is decent, editing this photo is an easy process. The first thing I did is crop this photo better to eliminate the distractions. Then I did some minor adjustments with the graduated filter. Finally, I took the file into Photoshop to delete sensor dust. That is it. You can watch the quick version of the edit in the video below:
Final Thoughts
I think that there is no one “right” light for all photos. The key is to understand how the different type of light affects the mood of the picture.
I believe that anyone can make the most awesome photos they can imagine! All they have to do is learn a few easy basics. I hope to inspire you to also pick up a camera and develop your own photographic vision.
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