Exercise: Light through the day

This exercise, which I prefer to call "dawn to dusk" was something of a marathon.  I started part 4 of TAOP at the beginning of April and then realised that I was running out of time in which to shoot this sequence.  First of all, the sequence required fine sunny weather and I have ended up with a composite some two weeks apart as the first day clouded over in the afternoon and nothing was happening in terms of colour or quality of light.  Then, the weather at weekends simply did not co-operate, but I have put a sequence together which illustrates the changes in light from pre-sunrise to dusk.

The exercise called for around 12 images; I certainly shot a lot more and present more here as, particularly at the beginning and the end of the day, the light was changing very quickly.  I chose to photograph the scene, which included the Church of St Peter and St Paul, with Black Notley Hall farm and outbuildings in the background.  The camera faced South (approximately) with the church on the left and in the back ground Black Notley Hall and outbuildings.  Those to the right were perfectly positioned to catch the sun in the morning and the church was doing the same in the evening.

Throughout the sequence I kept the WB setting at daylight in order to have a constant setting, providing me with a clearer view of how the light changed through time.

Whilst I recorded the shooting information, I am not including it here, suffice to say that all images were shot at ISO 100 and the exposures ranged from 30 seconds at f/8 through to 1/350 at f/11.  I am presenting the images below as sets of 5, with a 'lead' photograph so that  the differences may be more easily appreciated on the blog.  They are arranged in time sequence from top and then left to right.

Early morning

My sequence started at 5 in the morning, and it was clear that the light was beginning to change quite quickly at this time of the day.

The sun rises

Here, as the sun rises, the blueness is diminishing and the light is now being reflected in the outhouses on the right.

To midday and beyond

Church goers got in the way slightly, but the blue skies of the early morning have now been replaced by the white light around the middle of the day.  The clouds which can be seen forming in the last shot of this sequence were to prevent any more meaningful work that day.

Into early evening

Two weeks later and there are leaves on the tree!  As the sun moves to the West, it is now illuminating the North facing side of the church.  A very yellow / orange light around 7-8pm, then with a transition into blue as the sun starts falling below the horizon.  On that day, I would look at 7-8pm as being the golden hour, with this lovely warm light and well defined shadows from the low angle of the sun.

Towards the end of daylight

The blueness of the night descends on the scene, and as darkness falls, it becomes easy to see the lights coming from inside the church.

The atmospheric conditions on the days when I took this sequence, did not provide spectacular sunrises or sunsets, so the colours are somewhat less dramatic.  Nevertheless there is a clear transition from the blue of the early dawn, through some early morning yellow as the suns glow picks out some buildings, through to the white light at midday and then the reverse occurring as the day goes into the afternoon and then evening and night.