OK, so at the risk of wearing you thin on the subject in the photographs, I’m going to chronologically detail an evening shoot that serves as the epitome of unique natural light conditions where I live (yes, I wrote the EPITOME, I think it’s the Johnny Winter I’m listening to right now that’s riled me up on my description). In a previous post, I wrote that a few weeks ago I finished a huge trip off with an evening run into the farmland of West Texas. I have never seen the light and atmospheric conditions come together for what I saw later that night in a wheat field 20 miles north of Lubbock (which is for those of you not familiar, one of the most agriculturally intensive areas in the world…and the flattest).

What I want to do is display the chosen images in the temporal order they were taken in, just so you can wrap your mind around what I saw as time progressed. At the same time, I want to note a few tips along the way in explaining how these shots (or rather the light) developed:

Tip #1: Some Light Takes Time. Think about the first image in this post. I went out chasing a thunderstorm that night, and what usually happens when you’re in the middle of a storm (I mean, right in the middle)? You see a drastic drop in light intensity. That doesn’t necessarily mean the light is gone, or what the light creates. It just means you don’t necessarily have the type of light that creates dramatic shadows that a ton of landscape photographers talk about (we’re getting there). Sometimes, looking harder and envisioning what the conditions present you lobs a nice image in your archive. In this case, the clouds were bulging downward, and when the sky was given enough time to expose, I noticed the bluish veins of light running around in the sky. There’s your light in this type of situation. A subtle offering, but nonetheless there. When the sun is still above the clouds, the light it throws can oftentimes offer you a ton of color!

Tip #2: Wait the Light Out. After I was done with the first shot, I actually just jumped back in the FJammer (that’s what my wife calls my wheels), and drove a half mile up the road. It started to rain and lightning, and we all know how well the latter mixes with flatland and tripods. I was actually ready to pack it in, convinced that the rain was going to set in for a while. I decided to hang out a little while though, noticing a break between the western clouds and the horizon. If West Texas gives you anything, it’s darn good visibility for such things! After about 20 minutes, the rain was starting to let up, and the horizon looked to stay clear of clouds, with the edge of the storm seemingly just 100 yards off the ground. Waiting to see if the sun peeked below the clouds happened to be the best thing I could have done that evening. As it was drifting down, the light started changing dramatically. I drove back down to the field across the road from the original, grabbed two cameras (one with a 17-35mm f/2.8 L, the other with a 24-105mm f/4L), and got in a location before the light hit. The shot above is the start of the transition. What came next BLEW my mind, and I hope it does yours!

Tip #3: When the Light is Right, Shoot, Shoot, Shoot! The sun made its debut. Enough said. As photographers, “professional” or “amateur,” we’re programmed to recognize good light! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve annoyed people in the car during the morning or evening saying, “That’s nice…look at that light!” This evening didn’t even compare, it was phenomenal! The late evening light combined with the massiveness of the thunderstorm and the golden wheat stopped me in my tracks at first. I was suddenly standing in a field on fire with tangible photons! What do you do when you’re given this gift? SHOOT! I tend to be long-winded, but that’s all I need to write for this tip. You know what to do!

Tip #4: Don’t Forget About Technique and Aesthetics. We’ve all been there, and I see many-a-photography student be overcome by such awe at the light that they forget to move. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “This guy is just showing us shots of wheat, he didn’t move much! Practice what you preach brother!” See the next tip for the answer to this statement. In all seriousness though, don’t get bogged down on just one type of shot. Remember to shift up and down, shoot vertically if it works in the situation, get in close, use shadows to your advantage, pay attention to the sky, the contrast, your EXPOSURE, your DEPTH OF FIELD, and you SHUTTER SPEED (ah, we’ll throw ISO in there too). In a situation like this, make sure everything comes together! Remember how all these things can come together to visually create a story of that moment. Tell it as diversely as you can!

Tip #5: Know How Much Time You Have. When the sun dipped below this huge thunderstorm, I had about 15 minutes worth of great light. This is how much time you have when the sun reaches this point every day, but every day doesn’t look like this! In 15 minutes, I ran from one wheat field to the next (across the road), trying to do as much as I could with the subject I was given during that time period. There was no time to jump in the car and find another spot. This was it, and if you’re aware of the time, then you can get a lot done. My rule of thumb is that if I can hold my hand out horizontally to the horizon, and the sun is above my hand, I have roughly 45 minutes of shooting before sunset. This is kind of hokey, but I also check the weather online to see when the sun actually sets as well. Give yourself the most time possible to shoot.

Tip #6: Reflect a Moment…Then Capture It. Take a little bit of the time you’re given in Tip #5, and squeeze just a bit of appreciation for what’s unfolding before you in there. It doesn’t take much, but it helps. The shot above Tip #5 isn’t necessarily the best shot from the night (who’s kidding, it has a freakin’ shadow in it, mine). However, this was my moment of recognition for what was going on. Besides showing how close the sun was to the horizon (look at the shadow length), it also proved that I was standing in the middle of this. I can’t tell you how excited and and a little spooked at the light and atmospheric conditions I was standing in. To the East, a black wall of thunderstorm, to the North, the same plus nearby lightning, and to the West, a reminder that it will all pass over. If you’re just there to push a button to say you collected the shot and move on, then you’re not doing yourself any good as a photographer. We talk a lot about vision, especially among the photographers I keep up with, and appreciation for what one’s photographing/capturing is one of the keys to embracing your vision. All you need is a moment, then you can get back to the dirty work!

Tip #7: Repeat Tip #4. Once you recollect yourself, take on what you’ve been given. Expose correctly.

Move around. Find something a little different (looking North by the way).

Experiment. How else could I show what was going on with this wheat and still express what conditions it existed? Slow the shutter down, throw some motion in there, look at the movement in the patterns!

Tip #8: Notice the Changes in the Light. Stay keenly aware of how the light changes, and how it in turn changes everything else. Light creates color, and in 15 minutes, the colors in such a scene can change dramatically! Train your eyes to notice subtlety in light shifts, and visualize how those occurrences can help your recreation of the environment. You don’t have much time, but an active eye notices these changes, and adjusts to their happening.

Tip #9: See It All Through. No doubt you saw the pieces of rainbow in the other shots, and you may have seen the above shot in an earlier post. Why no earlier shot of the rainbow? Two reasons: 1. I couldn’t get wide enough where I was to avoid power lines and road. The wheat took precedence at the time. 2. It just wasn’t that intense. Rainbow shots are relatively common (I don’t mean to offend). This one pales even in the face of my friend Wyman Meinzer’s famous shot of the lighting bolt in the middle of the rainbow (he can summon weather, though).

Back to my point. Notice those things going on around you that may produce. You might be focused on shooting the wheat that’s in front of you (metaphorically speaking), but in the back of your mind, you have intentions of shooting that rainbow. So, you keep an eye on it, think about a location that’s a quarter mile up the road that gives you clearance of any uninvited extraneous subject matter, and once the sun sets, and you lose light on the wheat, you make your move. Hopefully the sun does exactly what it should do if there is a clear break under the clouds: light the sky up! You stay at this until it’s all gone. Seriously. Note the changes in light, adjust with them, and see it through to the end.

Alright, if you made it this far, congratulations! You have spent more time reading a blog post than most people do. And not once did you read about camera settings or gear brands (alright, maybe a note of gear used, but just a note). The point of the post, in keeping with the Field Lighting Series mission, is to give you insight on how to SEE light and the changes it produces, as well as the time it takes (or doesn’t take) for those changes to ensue. This is not rocket science, but there is a bit of science to how light naturally works, and knowing how it happens, and what to do when it explodes in your face, naturally or artificially, allows you a more enjoyable, prosperous photographic experience.

If you have any moments like that described in how these images were captured, please link them in the comments below. I would love to see your instances of light awe!