The Mainstream Photographic Theory - The Magic Hours

July 20, 2012  •  Leave a Comment

The current photographic theory has it that pictures should be taken during the two magic hours of the day - around sunrise, and around sunset. The light is warm, colors are great, long shadows create depth and intensify textures. But what happens to the rest of the day? Don't we live for more than 2 hours a day? Also, what if everyone followed the magic hour theory? Wouldn't all photos look the same and wouldn't the magic hour lose some of its magic?

So today, I was adding to my collection of daytime photos. This one was just shortly after noon as some impressive clouds were rolling in over Lake Erie and Buffalo's Waterfront, just south of downtown. There's a beautiful bike path along the water's edge but otherwise, this area is completely empty. Well, almost empty. There are three pairs of trees of various sizes that always catch my attention and serve as my secondary subject. Today, I focused on them after taking pictures of a cargo ship across the road on the City Ship Canal.
 
This is actually a stitch of three horizontal exposures. I did not intend on it, shot exactly as seen here with a single exposure, the trees also centered in the bottom, but then I noticed the land and clouds extending further left and right and thought adding more would further highlight the open empty land and the two lonely trees.

 


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