Composition and light are two extremely important components of a good landscape image. There are many different types and directions of light, and light is constantly changing, so it is something we all need to be very aware of as landscape photographers.
Two periods of light that are well known are Blue Hour and Golden Hour. Blue Hour, as its name suggests, produces blue light. However, unlike its name suggests, it doesn’t last for as long as an hour and this light appears just before sunrise and just after sunset. I personally think the blue light is perfect for producing calm, relaxing images. Golden Hour produces a wonderfully warm and soft light which occurs just after sunrise and just before sunset. This light can really enhance the contours and details in the landscape and produces a beautiful combination of light and shadow. Similar to Blue Hour, Golden Hour may not last for an hour depending on the time of year and your location. Of course around sunrise and sunset we can often be treated to a variety of beautiful colours in the sky but it is important to check weather forecasts because the wrong type of conditions can easily prevent the colour and nice light from appearing.
The direction light is coming from can have a big impact on our images. The four most common directions are:
Side Lighting - light which is coming into our scene from the left or right
Back Lighting - light is coming from behind our subject and towards us as we face our subject
Front Lighting - light is coming from behind us as we face our subject and it is lighting our subject
Top/Overhead Lighting - light is coming from above
Throughout the main daylight hours we can encounter lots of different weather and lighting conditions - harsh light, flat light, soft diffused light, fleeting light and so on. I’ve produced a detailed video covering everything in this article and much more on my YouTube channel. If you’d like to watch you can find it here. Capturing scenes under their ideal lighting conditions is part of the joy of landscape photography and is a key part of creating successful images, I wish you good luck!
