by Ben Walker

Created on: October 17, 2009

Photography is light. A photograph is taken by reflected light coming through the open shutter, bouncing off mirrors and sensors buried internally in the camera, and burning an image on a film, or in the case of a digital camera, the photograph digitally manifesting and processing the image from a sensor. So how do we utilize this light for our own photographic endeavors? Nature photographers don't use fake lighting, or fill lighting, flash or high output umbrella lights. We use the sun, the shadows and the natural bending and curving of the land before us. We as photographers have to see the shadows and the highlights and bring them down so the camera can render this and put it on film for millions of people to see what we saw. That's what photography is, letting the photograph tell the story.

We can utilize natural light by timing the photograph. Take a day and scout out the area the day before you plan to shoot. Of course, you can take a few snapshots to remind yourself where these special locations are when you come back the next day. Know what time the sun rises and the time the sun goes down, these come in handy for tracking down the "sweet light." I was taught to do this by my grandpa and he's always turned out with the best photography and he's passing it down to me. Once you see the locations you want to photograph during the harshest light of the day, go back to your house or hotel and sleep it off until dusk. At dusk, head out to one of the locations you chose during the day and set the picture up, take in composition, aperture and everything else that goes through a photographer's mind at the time the shutter snaps.

When the sun goes down just far enough to create those long, dark, drawn out shadows, snap the picture. You'll see some very good turn-outs by using this method. If you don't like the photographs when you get back and load them up on the computer, get out there in the morning and follow the same routine. Photography is all about light, especially in nature photography and landscape photography. Me, being a fine art photographer since I was about eight years old, being solely taught by my grandpa, I know a few things about photography but I'm always thirsty for more. I've taken some good pictures and many bad pictures but a huge part of photography is trial and error. Good luck and I wish you the best luck in photography!

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