subject: Photography - Morning or Evening Lighting [print this page] Photography - Morning or Evening Lighting
Many people say they cannot tell the difference by looking at a picture whether it was taken in early morning or late evening. For the photographer the difference lies in the ability to get the best shot or the best lighting effect we are looking for. In this article we are going to have a look at some of the differences between morning and evening photography.
Morning lighting is cooler and softer than evening lighting. It stands to reason that morning light has not been affected by human activities of the day. Most smog and dust have settled in the night. The air is generally cleaner for early morning photography.
However if you are looking for a certain affect, that affect may only occur in the morning. For example if you are looking for steam rising from water as a background, that affect is usually caused by warm water and cool air. That most commonly happens over night.
It is also true that most fog appears in the early morning hours. If you are looking for fog affects you will almost certainly have to catch early morning light usually before 9:00 in the morning. Even if the fog is only slight, it can soften the sun light and even generate unusual ray patterns. Early morning clouds can do the same thing creating horizontal and vertical ray patterns.
Morning lighting can be reinforced by using lighter colored props. Morning light creates a beautiful hue for most objects it lands on and hence can create the most amazing photos. You can truly get incredible shadow formations stroking across the landscape in perfectly sketched lines.
But perhaps the best reason to take morning photographs is that the serenity of the experience is rarely matched with evening photography.
The advantages to evening photography are that you usually have a significantly better idea of depth of light, the tone of light, weather patterns you can expect for the day, and the type of additional lighting you may be required to use. Most photographers are usually better prepared for evening shoots.
With evening photographs you may find that there is more dust and pollen in the air. Some may consider that bad; not necessarily. You can use this to your advantage to enhance certain lighting affects. Learn to play with the affects.
And of course you can always turn late evening shoots into night time shoots. As darkness prevails, you can continue the shoot into the dusk, using your own lighting enhancements to create unique and unusual affects.
In the end there are definite differences between evening and morning lighting for photography, but neither is better than the other, they are simply different. Each has its advantages but clearly it is up to the photographer to choose which works best for each client.
