Light is fundamental to all photography. Saying that, it is actually quite surprising how little light is required to make a photograph. The only real criterion is that there is some light to work with, however low its intensity. It is then simply a matter of leaving the aperture open long enough to capture a photograph of the scene. Other than introducing digital noise to the photograph, there are no limits to how long the aperture can remain open in order to capture the faintest of light. And this is an exciting prospect because it means that we are not restricted to the hours of ‘daylight’. We can continue to make compelling images throughout most of the night when conditions prevail.
Most light for landscape photography originates from the sun, either as direct sunlight or diffused by clouds, and this is the light that is used for the vast majority of images. However, in addition to these more typical forms of lighting, there is also reflected light when the sun is below the horizon. Most ‘surfaces’ will reflect light to some degree – the moon, stars, clouds – and this reflected light has different qualities to direct or diffused sunlight. This means that it is not only possible to photograph between dusk and dawn but on occasions it is actually ...
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