Part 4. Light. Variety with a low sun.

It is summer and now that I am living in France I have more opportunity to go outside to take the images that I require for these exercises than whilst I was living in the Middle East.  The weather is far more pleasant, allowing me to go outside at most times throughout the day.
For this exercise I am required to find a subject that I can photograph in low sunlight, prior to or just after sunrise or sunset.  I have chosen to go through our village to the local church in Lascazeres and capture  the first 3 of the 4 images, showing:

• frontal lighting, sun behind the camera
• side lighting, sun to the left or right of the camera
• back lighting, sun or light in front of the camera,  
• edge lighting, sun outside the viewfinder.

Fig 1.

Frontal Lighting

 

I stood at an angle to the church, using a tripod and a very low positioning.  The sun was behind the camera.  It was around 20.00 hours as can be seen on the clock tower, and about an hour before sunset. The cross on the spire of the church reflects the sun as do the clock hand which can be seen when enlarging the image.  There are some shadows on the building created by the Chateaux buildings opposite the church. The side wall of the tower catches most of the low sun and also the wall to the right.

More intense frontal lighting creates a sharp image.

 





Fig 2.

Side lighting 

 

With the sun to the left of me I captured this image which shows that only part of the church is lit by the sun.  The light an be seen on the cemetery wall and on the path and one edge of the water feature. Also the ivy growing through the conical evergreen tree is catching the light from the low sun. This I feel lifts the picture. The lower edge of the palm tree is also lit by the sun and the lower half of the roof.  There is shadow on the roof and on the path in the foreground. The road sign at the corner of the church is also lit by the sun, and there is also light catching the bollards on the edge of the forecourt.

The lighting here is very warm and gives an orange tint to the final image. The combination of shadows and highlights give depth to the image. There is more atmosphere when there are shadows.



 

 

Fig 3.

Back lighting.

For this image I am shooting towards the direction of the sun which is low and hidden behind the long low building. 

I chose to open the cemetery gates and captured small amounts of light which are seen on the cross and mouldings on the gate. 

The light has altered completely within the time I have taken to capture these images.  From a virtually clear intense blue sky in Fig 1. to a heavily clouded sky in Fig 3.  

The palm tree has lost all definition in this light and has very nearly become a silhouette.
This image veers towards the blue end of the colour spectrum and is cooler than fig 1 and fig 2.

Fig 4.

Edge Lighting

 

Tonight I made my way to the church in the village again,  it was 20.45hr, just 40 minutes before sunset.  I wanted to look at the cemetery and the headstones to see if there was any edge lit headstones that would catch my eye. Directly outside the church is the roundabout, which I thought shows edge lighting off quite well.  One edge of the cross is illuminated and also its base on one edge. 

 

I was disappointed in the cemetery, the headstones and graves are all face on to the sun at this time of night, therefor no edge lighting...but just as I rounded the corner to leave the cemetery I spotted the cross, which was balanced as such that it caught the light, with just a touch  of highlight at the very top, noticeable due to the algae growing on its crown and a further metal cross behind it which was illuminated along the edge. 

 

Fig 5.

A second example of edge lighting.