Lillies at Sunset

Nowadays, one of the most important things I look for when I take photos is light. There was a time I would shoot anything and everything, at any time of day and I do think that's the way to go when learning. Shoot as much as you can and then learn from the mistakes.

But I've also discovered light is one of the most important factors professional photographers try and control the most. It can make or break a photograph. Those shots you see in National Geographic, and various travel magazines are all planned and scheduled at the optimum time of day to produce the most beautiful light. I'm no pro, but I now at least understand better how lighting can affect a shot. A lot of times, a usually-boring scene can look totally different and sometimes absolutely stunning when bathed in the correct light (example a perfect sunset). It's for this reason, photographers call the hour during sunsets and sunrises the 'golden hour'. The light produced by sunsets and sunrises are particularly pleasing to the eye, and can produce gorgeous golden light. This is the light most sought after by the best travel and landscape photographers.

For example, there were some flowers in my backyard that were just crying out to be photographed, but every day I looked out it was either too early in the day and the sun was too bright, or the sky was too cloudy. Finally yesterday evening, I was home during sunset and I was present when the setting sun hit the lillies just the way I liked.

Here are some of the shots I was lucky to catch before the sun went down (click for larger view):


Two lillies
(c) 2006 Sasi Shanmugarajah



Untitled
(c) 2006 Sasi Shanmugarajah



Light & Shadow
(c) 2006 Sasi Shanmugarajah