To quote the famed author, Leo Tolstoy, “All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” Unfortunately, many photos with neat compositions, good decisive moments and impressive narratives do not include beautiful lighting or colours in them.

Chasing the Light

Most often, the finest-quality natural light appears from about 7 am to 10 am in the morning and from 3 pm in the afternoon until the sun sets. A good photographer needs to know when, where and how the lighting will suit the scene best. The quality of light will also change depending on the time of the day, cloud cover and weather conditions.

When I walk around town, I always try to remember the time and the way the light shines down on a certain location. I know that the scene will look very different at different times of the day so I will write that information down and get back to those places at the right moment to take photos.

Playing with Shadows

Pro tip: when you find good lighting, pay attention to shadows as well. A long and stretched shadow of subjects cast on the wall will make a photo look more interesting than usual. To do this, you will have to focus your shot on the shadow’s shape and keep an eye out for clear figures or actions that will help you to tell a story. My little secret is that I wait for the shadow to be cast on an empty and clean wall. I also recommend capturing shadow shots in monotone colours but it is entirely up to you.

Sometimes, beautiful light shows up in the sky for a brief moment before the sun sets completely. The sky is always changing from a burst of colours to pitch darkness like a well-painted background on a sheet of canvas waiting for you, a skilled artist to paint interesting subjects on it. The subject matter could be nice lighting cast on buildings or remarkable gestures of people who are passing by. The possibilities are endless and it is entirely up to you to capture them in frame.