Topic: What's your favourite light?

[Karl]

Happy Monday etc. I know we usually love to talk films and cameras but one thing I am interested to know is other peoples favourite kind of light?

I was wondering about this yesterday, when the weather in Scotland was dreadful (at sea level in Fife it was) - wet, windy, grey, the sea looked like molten steel. Then, in the afternoon half way through the Ireland France rugby game I looked out at the weak winter sun just breaking through clouds and sea mist to create a wonderful silvery half light across trees and the park. The wind had dropped off and the sea surf was a lot smoother. Off I went and had ate up 4 rolls of 120 in not much time at all. Silhouettes against the mist, puddles that looked like jewels. A sense of calm. I could hardly contain myself and got what I hope to be some good shots of my dog standing between misty goal posts just before he went sprinting off after squirrels. One of those rarely lit occasions that you seem images in nearly everything.

[Ailsa]

Hi Karl

It must be something in our Scottish blood, because it sounds like you experienced my absolute favourite conditions for photography, too!

I rarely see pictures when the light is what plenty of other photographers might call 'good' - but give me soft, shadowless conditions, and preferably a sky that's shades of grey rather than plain old blue and white, and I'm a happy snapper. Throw in a snowfall and I'll be out there before you can say 'hypothermia'!

This pic is one of my favourites from 2006, and was taken in what I consider to be photographic nirvana...



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[Francois]

I must say my favorite light is somewhat rare around here.
When you have a white cloud blanket that covers your head and that nice white and vivid light that makes every color vibrate like by magic... that is sweet.

But we most of the time get blazing sun in the winter with harsh shadows and no colors or the dull gray cloud cover during summer.

But more than the light, it's the temperatures that make things hard. Last week, we had -27°C with a wind chill factor of -40°C... Batteries die instantly, grease in shutters thickens up, and you get severe frostbite in less than 2 minutes... not fun.

[Ailsa]

But more than the light, it's the temperatures that make things hard. Last week, we had -27°C with a wind chill factor of -40°C... Batteries die instantly, grease in shutters thickens up, and you get severe frostbite in less than 2 minutes... not fun.

Which begs the question - where ARE you...? 

[dave miller]

But more than the light, it's the temperatures that make things hard. Last week, we had -27°C with a wind chill factor of -40°C... Batteries die instantly, grease in shutters thickens up, and you get severe frostbite in less than 2 minutes... not fun.

Which begs the question - where ARE you...? 

Brighton?

[Karl]

I rarely see pictures when the light is what plenty of other photographers might call 'good' - but give me soft, shadowless conditions, and preferably a sky that's shades of grey rather than plain old blue and white, and I'm a happy snapper. Throw in a snowfall and I'll be out there before you can say 'hypothermia'!

This pic is one of my favourites from 2006, and was taken in what I consider to be photographic nirvana...


Lovely picture. Incidentally I find that Holgas tame harsh light quite well. Here is one of mine taken a couple of years ago on Orkney, looking out to Hoy from the Mainland

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[astrobeck]

Starlight!
Or Moonlight.
Honestly it's my favorite, but then I'm a night owl, plus an astronomer--so it's my way of life.

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[Francois]

Which begs the question - where ARE you...? 

I live in cold Canada...
Just to give you an idea of how cold it got, the weatherman on TV took a glass of water, threw its content in the air and the drops instantly froze in mid air. There was no magic trick, just very cold wind... You should have seen the major traffic jams that morning. The rubber of the tires gets so hard it's like driving on bricks.

Even worse, the same kind of weather is comming back ( we currently have a balmy -20°C  )...

Now I think you understand why I don't shoot much during Winter...

[FrankB]

Contre-jour, that's the way for me.

I'll take hard light with the sun on the horizon, where every piece of grit and cigarette stub has its own long shadow, or soft hazy light through trees cutting shafts through the air and lighting the leaves. Just stand me in a shadow, point me into the light and pass the film! 

[Karl]

Starlight!
Or Moonlight.
Honestly it's my favorite, but then I'm a night owl, plus an astronomer--so it's my way of life.

stunning picture. Is that the north star?

[astrobeck]

stunning picture. Is that the north star?

Yes, with the Little Dipper

 

[Nicole BM]

All natural window light. Most of my work is with natural lighting, I love it.

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[FrankB]

Oh, now that is just plain lovely!

Welcome to the madhouse site, Nicole! Great to have you here.

[Nicole BM]

Hi David, thank you. I'm glad I bumped in Leon.

[Ed Wenn]

Being stuck in nasty, grey London town for most of my time I often find myself looking out for quite dull, overcast days with maybe a bit of weak sun filtering through the haze so that I can load up some slide film and head out for some cross-processing action. I love cross-processed results in general, but have learned to steer clear of bright days and high contrast light in general (for the obvious reasons). Even with pretty watery sunlight you can get some interesting results. These were taken in November 2005 - a day blessed with a weak sun and some city haze - using Fuji Fortia in my Yashica GSN Electro.

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[LT]

I like Dawn and Dusk the best, just before first and just after last light.  But I also like it when the sun has just come up or about to go in too.

these were all taken at around this time



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[chricela]

I like low natural lighting, best. Moody

But my tastes are pretty flexible, as long as the sun is hiding!

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[LT]

that first shot is stunning chricel.

[chricela]

  thank you, Leon.

[Karl]

Chricel
Iamges 2 and 3 aren't 'arf bad either.
Leon, I love your picture of the graves.
Karl

[Skorj]

My heck! If there ever was a thread that made me smile about being a filmwaster, it is this one. From the original question, to the thoughtful responses, AND the varied work that comes with them; I feel good. What a great selection of opinions and presentations.

Really nice and varied, and just what I had in mind when we discussed making this place.

To answer the question though, and without trying to be glib, I like it all I suppose. Any place with a camera and I am happy. I am however partial to harsh light of morning, and the diffused light of winter sun falling through grubby glass of a 30-year abandoned school:



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[Theresa]

love all the varied answers.

I'm a drama queen when it comes to light.  my favorite is pre or post storm light.  give me dark, foreboading clouds and I'm a happy camper.  make me run around like a crazy woman chasing and waiting for the perfect shaft of light and I'm in heaven.

both from my recent roadtrip to Georgia (two weeks ago).

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[Skorj]

give me dark, foreboading clouds and I'm a happy camper.  make me run around like a crazy woman chasing and waiting for the perfect shaft of light and I'm in heaven.

Now that's a situation I can relate to. Fellow filmwasters will attest to me acting in a similar embarassing manner (see below). I like your dark.



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[moominsean]

i like the warm, bright sun in my face, and the light that peaks out between the leaves when a breeze happens along...

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[moominsean]

though i also enjoy the gloom on a cold winter day (so rare in arizona)...

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[artpunk]

Good heavens, there are some beautiful photos in this thread! Like some of the other respondents I love stormy-cloudy skies, but in particulat I love late afternoon light streaming underneath such storm clouds, illuminating everything with a preternatural glow. I wish I had an example photo of mine to share with you but I'm at work and don't have an example on my usb stick, but I'm sure most photographers here will relate to the kind of light I mean...

[moominsean]

monsoon season in arizona is great for that kind of light...

i miss that sickly green light under a funnel cloud during a midwest storm.

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[artpunk]

monsoon season in arizona is great for that kind of light...

i miss that sickly green light under a funnel cloud during a midwest storm.

Sean, that's a beaut shot! What did you take it with? Re: that sickly green light under a funnel cloud during a midwest storm. I just watched a very interesting doco on lightning the other night. I rekon I'd be a bit nervous in these conditions, but I do love thunderstorms!
 

[moominsean]

dollar panoramic i picked up at goodwill! this was actually the first rain last spring (in az), after 5 months without or something like that (record-breaking dry spell).

[astrobeck]

And then there's the wicked thunderstorm light that looks like Armageddon is coming down the street.....
Besides night shots, I do take lightning shots and they are scary at times.  You know you are close when you can smell the stuff!


Albuquerque T Storm
Tri-x
Holga

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[moominsean]

whoops! digital shot, but more angry clouds! in southern utah.

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[LT]

whoops! digital shot, but more angry clouds! in southern utah.

tut, tut tut ... three strikes and you're out Sean

nice clouds btw

[FrankB]

There were some lovely mists hugging the ground on my way to work this morning. Also a surprisingly photogenic amount of steam rising from an enormous pile of manure... 

Unfortunately the powers-that-be get quite miffed if you make photographs from the motorway, even if you're in a stationary queue of traffic, and now I have to sit at a desk and do that "work" thing of which I'm so very fond...! 

[LT]

know the feeling Frank - I'm doing the same thing here.  And the light and hoar frost here this morning was perfect.

[artpunk]

Beck, those clouds are just freaky, but so beautiful! So are yours Sean, even if they are digit@l! 
I still think you people are very brave going out with lightning bolts about!
I finally managed to grab a sequence of shots last night that show the fleeting moment of near perfect light that sometimes illuminates the trees opposite my house.
Anyone who has ever spent some time in Melbourne knows how changeable the weather can be, well in the Dandenong Ranges outside of Melbourne it's even more so, the ambient lighting conditions change from second to second. I'm sure the same is true for many parts of the world.
Perhaps these are not the best photographs or the best examples, but this sequence illustrates how much a few minutes can make a difference in the lighting of a scene (these were taken within a ten minute window) - also I just love the tall gum that stands opposite our place, especially when it captures the light just so, as in the middle shot.
Taken with my Polaroid 600 SE with 125i silk (which I have discovered is a devil to scan, do any of the other Polaroid users here have any advice regarding scanning these prints?)



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[Aline]

I'm with Leon...dawn and dusk...
and late afternoons when the shadows are long.
Beautiful work, everyone!
Great topic, Karl!
Aline

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[Andrea.]

Backlight. Nothing quite  like it in my humble opinion. I was seduced by Leonard Misonne's images on the trip to Charlroi photo museum in Belgium. His pictorialist work still enthralls me [ see http://www.josephbellows.com/artists/leonard_misonne/ ] Having said that, the number of snaps I have taken and like with this light iare very few.
An old one on printing out paper gold toned from an enlarged digi neg orginally taken with KOWA 6mm on Christmas morning a couple of years ago on the Somerset levels;

apologies for the rubbish scan