Creativity After Sunrise

I love the light you get from a rising or setting sun. It’s warm and soft, and it can make the landscape glow. It can also test your commitment during the summer months when sunrise can be 5am and sunset as late as 9pm (at least on Dartmoor anyway). But if you thought these were the only times of day to take photographs you’d be mistaken.

While there’s no doubt that I prefer to shoot during the golden hours, by not taking photographs during the day, you’re missing out on hours and hours of creativity and fun. Admittedly, it can be a little more challenging as shadows are harsher and there more people about, but for those looking for a challenge the results can be rewarding.

A few weeks ago I had a few hours to kill so I took a wander up to Hound Tor. There was little cloud in the sky, the landscape was very contrasty, and I had to pick my out my compositions carefully. Aside from negotiating a busy location (Hound Tor is very popular with visitors), I had to look for compositions where strong areas of light and shadow would work.

When I found my composition, I knew it was going to be black and white, so I set my Nikon Z8 to Deep Tone Monochrome and got to work. This is the resulting image.

**Houndtor, Dartmoor, Devon** - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 18mm, f/13, 1/100 sec at ISO 640.

I didn’t find much else to photograph that morning, but it did remind me of what an interesting location Hound Tor is to photograph. It’s a location that works well when I teach photographers about photographing Dartmoor.

I’m looking forward to going back. Not just at the golden hours, but during the day. As I looked about, I could see how the angle of the light would change during the day, opening up a new compositions. I can’t wait to see what I find.