Weekly Assignment: Photograph a Scene throughout the Day

[PWS-Staff]

This assignment teaches you to see the effects of varying light conditions on a single scene and the dramatic changes it has on the appearance of the objects in the scene. Scout a location where you can shoot at various times throughout an entire day (or at different
times on multiple days.) Find a pleasing composition of part of the scene that receives direct light for at least part of the day. Photograph the same part of the scene early in the morning (ideally before sunrise), just after sunrise, and then again later in the morning, at noon, mid afternoon, late afternoon, just before sunset, and after sunset. Your compositions should be as close to identical as possible. Ideally, you’ll set up your camera on a tripod and position it the same for all the photos, but capturing handheld will work, too.

My example photo shows Paradise Divide near Crested Butte, Colorado, during the middle of a summer day. I shoot there every chance I get and I’ve photographed that location under all kinds of conditions. This image was taken at ISO 250, f/22, 1/6 sec. Chapter 6 includes another photo of Paradise Divide at dawn that illustrates how the variation in lighting conditions produces entirely different photographs.

From "Nature Photography," by Nat Coalson