As photographers, sometimes we overlook shadows as key elements of composition.
Claude Debussy said, “Music is the space between the notes.” Mozart said, “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” Truman Fisher, an American composer, said, “The pause is as important as the note.”
Photographers read the light; follow the light. Derived from Greek, the word photography means “drawing with light.” But we must also read the shadows. For often it may be the spaces “not in light,” or in the “pause in light,” that impact an image.
Onboard the Schooner Olad returning to Camden harbor.
Many photographers, new, amateurs, and some professionals, shoot sunrises and sunsets—nature at its most beautiful if you are facing east or west at the right hour. That includes me! Sun-up and sundown photos proliferate the social media. Why not? The photographer is sharing a special moment that he or she witnessed. It’s a grand feeling.
The reason I’m showing this photo is because it IS a sundown, but, there’s something going on in the foreground. I believe that is important, although not always necessary. Why? It adds to the storyline. It helps put the photo into a context.
To increase the contextual impact of a photo with the sun setting or rising, consider including a telling foreground. In this case, it is the bow of the schooner Olad, a 50-foot vessel out of Camden, ME.
I shot photos for an hour as the sun descended and infused the sky with beautiful colors. I tried from various parts of the vessel, all with the idea of capturing some aspect of the vessel in the foreground. This was it. When I clicked the shutter, my senses resonated as they often do when I get a good shot.
I believe this shot works because of the triangular balance of shapes in the left and middle. The two sails you see are headsails, one free flying, the other on a self-tending boom. Coupled with the boom, the three forms are triangular, which also repeats the theme of three, there being three forms (similar to a pin-wheel).
Without the bow and sails, this would be a nice sunset photo. If it existed, I’d probably crop half the water so the horizon was even lower. But having the three elements, proportionally balanced in the foreground, takes this mage up a few notches in terms of interest and engagement.
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Technical variables: There are at least two variables that challenge a photographer to attain well-exposed and sharp sunrise or sunset photos with foreground elements—low light conditions and distance between subjects (foreground to infinity). The sky usually requires a different exposure than the foreground unless you are happy with foreground silhouettes, which often work great. If you want everything in focus, you’ll need a small aperture to span the distance from near to far, thus allowing the greatest depth-of-field. Now you either have to use a tripod for a longer exposure or increase the ISO substantially. Increasing the ISO on some cameras creates visual noise in the image unless you have a camera with a relatively large sensor.
Technical details:This shot was taken using a Nikon D7100 at 1/25 sec and ƒ 1/16. ISO was set to 640. Focal length on my Nikon 24-120mm lens was set to 24mm which translated to 36mm being on a camera with an APS-C sensor (1.5x crop factor). Despite my care in balancing the settings, I still needed Adobe Lightroom to open up the shadows on the foredeck and sails and reduce some highlights in the sky.
Early one spring several years back, I was arranging a barbecue on Wincoma Beach, Huntington, NY, near my sister’s home. We were inviting some artist friends from Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey. I wanted to show them the view before their arrival.
This photo emerged after two evenings of shooting, the last evening using a tripod. I wanted the light reflections of the lighthouse and the red buoy to appear in the photo. However, they were out-of-sync, so i needed to leave the lens open for awhile—30 seconds was sufficient. It all worked out, for the shot is at dusk—low light—which requires a long exposure. A long exposure meant a small aperture. This in turn resulted in great depth-of-field—sharp focus from the foreground to background. AND, I got my two reflected columns of light.
I like this photo primarily because the three chairs face one-another in a magical setting. I’ve seen dozens of paintings and photos of a single sea-side chair facing the water. This is always a contemplative, reflective, introspective type shot, one I’ve always appreciated. But what sets this image apart is the communal arrangement of the chairs. It creates more of a social setting.
The horizon reveals the Connecticut shoreline. The lights on the horizon are those of Norwalk, CT. The land spit on the top left is Lloyd’s Neck.
Because of the social placement of the three chairs and the appearance of the Huntington Lighthouse, I named this photo, “Lighthouse Café.”
