I’ve never been a morning person, I definitely prefer the night, or the evenings or even late afternoon, in short anytime but not early in the day and preferably when it’s dark. The only problem with darkness though is that most of the day’s colours are lost. And I love colours; for me photography is more about the colour of things rather than the shape of things.
Yes, sunsets can be quite nice with some pretty colours; but I like to take photographs in that period of twilight just after the sun has set. Whilst it was hard to create these images when shooting with film cameras, these colours can be easily brought out using the sensors in most digital SLR cameras. I use Nikon DSLR’s and I find the Nikon CaptureNX software easily produces the sort of image I’m after – the image I could see in my mind’s eye when I pressed the camera’s button.
After Sunset in Cue, WA
This photo was taken about 10 minutes after sunset one day when I was passing through Cue in the mid north of Western Australia. The image was taken facing west to where the sun had recently set. The next image was taken at Lake Argyle near Kununurra in the far north of Western Australia was taken facing east – with my back to where the sun had set and it shows a very different kind of light.
Lake Argyle after sunset II
But it’s not just landscapes that can give great colours, I also like photos that can be produced from within the forests here in the beautiful south west of Western Australia.
Pemberton after dark
In this image taken not far from Pemberton, I love how almost all the shape and details of the trees have been lost, leaving only the colours.