Challenging Light: Then this happened.

Autumnal landscape photography is some of the most interesting that you do, and as a season goes it is quite possibly one of the most spectacular seasons within the photographic calendar which pinpoints mother nature slowing down and putting on one last show before it goes into hibernation, of course though it is also one of my favourite seasons for photography as capturing the raw beauty of autumn can be simple one minute and then challenging the next. But it is this mixture of challenges that means you can capture some truly stunning scenes.

Of course with the seasons of autumn and winter the lighting conditions can be spectacular and that is something that really does make capturing any autumnal and winter scene even more “magical”, magical in the way that light can make a scene seem that little more dramatic.

Just a couple of days ago I was on a lovely afternoon walk, and yes walking is something that a lot of people have been doing during lockdown, getting out and about - thus enjoying being at one with nature and not having to listen to the news; thankfully the lighting conditions were perfect, the sun was beginning to set and the colours of the sun managed to light up an otherwise cloudy scene. To the west of where I was walking it was clear, and the location I was in had cloud cover, the clouds though they had a certain shape and the light from the sunset was turning them pink.

Throughout the walk though I had been shooting in what can only be described as,

“Challenging light”

But as the sun continued to set and it got ever so slightly darker, something happened and the skies started to dance, a display of pinks, yellows and oranges occurred. For the skies were dancing and what a show, but then this happened, I just had to capture the movement of the clouds and focus on a tree.

All too often Nottinghamshire is ignored by many landscape photographers and that itself is such a shame as it is a county of many contrasts, rural and urban often seem to blend with each other and in a strange way tend to compliment each other. Now where I was walking is located some six miles away from the city centre and is semi-rural, but did that matter? No especially when this happened.

The dancing fields

The autumnal movement

Colour dance

Each photo was taken with a slow shutter speed and I just let the camera do it’s thing. (The shutter speed was between 40 seconds to 90 seconds) but the movement and the end result was just amazing.

I had just managed to capture what have very quickly become my favourite photographs of this year, which depicted the way in which the light can be so magical, yes it was a challenge to take photographs on this particular day because the sun was so low in the sky due to the autumnal sunset taking place, but a little bit of patience and I was so pleased with the end results.

Yet even in the most challenging of lighting conditions it is still possible to capture something truly amazing, a bit of patience is all you need to capture the raw beauty and essence of this fantastic time of year, my patience paid off, when I captured those glorious movements of the clouds and the colours within them due to the low autumnal sunset, but instead of being put off by autumnal photography, work with it and work with the lighting conditions as you are bound to come up with that perfect shot that speaks a thousand words about the season of autumn. Things can be challenging but do not give up with the challenging lighting conditions that autumn throws at you, learn to work it and work with it, in order to get the best results.

But autumn is slowly disappearing, for the next season will be winter, and that brings with it, certain challenges and a raw feeling that can be just as magical to capture, but will there be any challenging light to capture? I for one sure hope so.