Photography tutorial: The twilight zone
You are walking alone through a silent landscape. You notice that it is neither light nor dark. Your mind begins to conjure up images. You are in… the twilight zone.
Along the coast on Australia’s famous Great Ocean Road one winter afternoon, I noticed how beautiful the Sea Stacks looked against the luminous sky near sunset. Vividly coloured dusks and afterglows don’t happen every evening, but when they do they provide photographers with the chance to play with two basic elements of art: colour and shape. This special twilight period varies with the time of year and latitude, so the further south you are in Australia the better and longer will be that transcendent magic of “half-light”… the period immediately before sunrise and after sunset.
Winter seems to offer the best colours, as the air is often cooler and clearer, with twilight often lasting for around an hour. Light from the sun strikes particles in the earth’s upper atmosphere and some of the light is reflected back to earth. The rest is scattered or refracted, creating the colours of twilight. So pre-selected vantage points are a must; otherwise missed opportunities will occur when the light is at its peak.
Good vantage points have two elements: an uncluttered view of the sky and an interesting foreground to lend visual interest and balance to your photograph. Then choose subjects you can isolate against the sky, like intriguing rock formations, ragged mountains, twisted snags, even lighthouses.
Calm water will reflect the sky’s palette of reds and violet blues, creating more photo opportunities. Subjects can be silhouetted against or reflected in these colourful waters.
Making the water itself the main part of your composition, especially when it’s lit by the remaining colour left in the sky, will make it stand out from its surroundings. You can shoot a photograph almost surreal in nature and create something more unique than just another lovely sunset picture.
Rapidly changing low light levels, high contrast and long shutter speeds together can create an exposure nightmare. You need to think carefully about composition, as you would in normal daylight hours, but you also need to consider bracketing, metering and reciprocity failure; so here is a simplified approach that will give you consistently good results.
First of all, determine what aperture setting you need for adequate depth of field.
Remember that silhouettes need to be in sharp focus or their edges will appear fuzzy in your final photograph. Set your camera if possible to Aperture Priority mode, on a sturdy tripod, of course, and select at least f8. Setting your camera to Manual mode is even better.
After all, that’s why this mode is still on good cameras. The manufacturers know you need it from time to time.
Next, simply meter the scene as you’ve composed it, and then open up a stop by doubling the shutter speed. For example, at f8 your meter reads _ second, simply double the shutter speed to _ second. Then, bracket, bracket and bracket some more. Up to one stop either side of your original reading. Since two or even three different exposures will render the twilight scene in a most pleasing manner, this isn’t as wasteful as you might think.
As twilight wanes your exposure times will get longer and longer, up to 30 seconds in length. If your camera’s meter runs out of options at this point switch to the bulb (B) setting on your camera. By using a cable release and your watch you can still create beautiful pictures. In longer exposures, film responds at a much slower pace (what is known as “reciprocity failure”), resulting in underexposed pictures. Compensate by adding more light. Opening up from one to two more stops will achieve this, or simply put, just double your time, i.e. 30 seconds to one minute.
Finally, remember to compose for simplicity.
By distilling the image down to its essential elements, you will create a picture with far more visual impact.
As the sun goes down when next you’re out shooting, discover the delights of low light photography for yourself… and enter the domain of the “twilight zone”.
Ian Rolfe can be contacted at ianrolfe@bigpond.com
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