Freelance Photographer in St Ives Cambridgeshire: Food & Drink Photography; Commercial Photography, Product Photography & Packshot Photography; Event Photography; Portrait Photography; Corporate Photography & PR Photography; Engagement Photography & Wedding Photography and Photography Training Courses in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Bedford, St Neots, St Ives and London. Professional Photography Services in St Ives, St Neots, Huntingdon, Bedford, Peterborough & Cambridge. | |||
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Alistair Grant Freelance Photographer Cambridge & London |
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bokeh photographic: Blog No: 49 → TIP: Click any image to view in LightBox |
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Unsettled Forecast Although the golden hour has become something of a photographic cliché I love photographing in the ‘hour’ after sunrise and the ‘hour’ before sunset. Some of my best-selling prints are golden hour exposures. The #1 tip for producing great images in almost every photographic magazine, book and website is to shoot in the golden hour. However, IMHO certain scenes might be best portrayed by combining the most pleasing attributes of the golden hour with the most pleasing attributes of the blue ‘hour’ by avoiding both! First, it’s probably worth summarising what’s so special about the golden and blue hours. To start with neither the golden ‘hour’ nor the blue ‘hour’ necessarily last an hour. The length depends upon elevation of the sun which is determined by geographical location (latitude) and time of year. Whilst perhaps surprisingly there isn’t an official definition, the golden hour can be demarcated as the time immediately after sunrise and immediately before sunset where the proportion of shorter wavelength blue light (450-495nm) is decreased compared to longer wavelength yellow (570-590nm), orange (590-620nm) & red (620-750nm) light due to increased atmospheric scattering of blue light when the sun is at a low angle. The elevation of the sun above (or below) the horizon governs the angle at which light impacts the atmosphere and thus which is the dominant wavelength. As elevation decreases the distance that light has to travel through the atmosphere increases thus progressively reducing the amount of blue light so that golden tones predominate at sunrise/sunset. Therefore, contrary to what most people think, the characteristic yellow, orange & red hues of the golden hour isn’t because there is an absolute increase in longer wavelength yellow/orange/red light but because there’s a proportional reduction in short wavelength blue light. Conversely, when the sun lies below the horizon short wavelength blue light is reflected back down to earth to produce the blue ‘hour’; the time at the beginning of morning (civil) twilight - just before the golden hour - and at the end of evening (civil) twilight - just after the golden hour. Although the sun is below the horizon there is sufficient natural light in the blue hour to distinguish objects thanks to the sun illuminating the upper layers of the atmosphere. The sunrise golden hour might be considered to begin when the geometric centre of the sun is -4 degrees below the horizon and ends when the sun rises to 6 degrees above whereas the sunset golden hour begins when the sun is 6 degrees above the horizon and ends when the sun drops to -4 degrees below. The sunrise blue hour begins when the sun is -6 degrees below the horizon and ends when the sun rises to -4 degrees whereas the sunset blue hour begins when the sun is -4 degrees below the horizon and ends when the sun drops to -6 degrees. Although these periods can be standardised in terms of the position of the sun relative to the horizon, no two golden or blue hours are the same which of course adds to the photographic interest. The variation can be explained by different weather conditions as well as factors such as pollution: atmospheric particles cause not only scattering of light but also act as a physical filter thus reducing the intensity of light. Apart from the warm yellow/orange/red hues one of the most pleasing photographic attributes of the golden hour is the soft, diffused light whereas one of the most pleasing photographic attributes of the cool blue hour is the highly saturated colour. This shot of the iconic Old Lifeboat House on Blakeney Point on the North Norfolk Coast combines the best of both ‘hours’ despite being shot mid-afternoon. I just wish the specific conditions required to produce this soft yet richly saturated landscape photograph came about more often. Although I have photographed the OLH hundreds of times in many different weathers the unsettled weather (sunny intervals in-between fast-moving but heavy wintry showers) on this particular winter afternoon really made the light special. |
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Call Alistair Grant on 07775 365507, Email [email protected] or click Booking Enquiries if you have any questions or would like to make a booking. |
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bokeh: "the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens" Freelance Photographer offering Food & Drink Photography Cambridge; Commercial Photography Cambridge, Product Photography Cambridge & Packshot Photography Cambridge; Event Photography Cambridge; Portrait Photography Cambridge; Corporate Photography Cambridge & PR Photography Cambridge; Engagement Photography Cambridge & Wedding Photography Cambridge and Photography Training Courses in Cambridge. Also covering: Huntingdon, St. Ives, Ramsey, St. Neots, Peterborough, Bedford, Stamford, Newmarket, Sawtry, Alconbury Weston, Brampton, Hartford, Warboys, Houghton, Wyton, Godmanchester, Hilton, Hemingford Grey, Hemingford Abbots, Fenstanton, Whittesley, Yaxley, Needingworth, Somersham, Chatteris, Ely, Bar Hill, Grafham and Buckden. |
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bokeh photographic - Alistair Grant | Freelance Photographer | Cambridge, London, UK Food & Drink Photography | Commercial Photography & Product Photography | Corporate Photography & PR Photography | Portrait Photography (inc. 'Active Portraiture', 'Naturally You' & 'Poptraits') | Event Photography | Engagement & Wedding Photography | Photography Training Courses & Camera Tuition | Videography & Film Production Tel: 07775 365507 | Email: [email protected] |