Creosote, Early Evening Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Soft evening light on creosote growing in windblown unes at Death Valley National Park.
Desert light (like that in quite a few other places) can go through a remarkable transformation late its the day, a transformation that mirrors the one taking place in the morning. In the middle of the day, the light is often quite intense, rather bluish (from that gigantic light panel we call the “sky), and the landscape is full of harsh contrasts between highlights and shadows. At some point in the very late afternoon, assuming a cooperative surrounding landscape and the right weather conditions, the light imperceptibly begins to soften and warm in color. If you were not attuned to this you might not notice at first, but eventually it becomes obvious as the process accelerates and intensifies, producing a sort of “crescendo of light” that often peaks just before it ends.
I made this photograph somewhere in the middle of that cycle — far enough along that the color has definitely warmed, but not so late that the full sunset redness has arrived. At this point the light changes rapidly, and features that I had not noticed suddenly become interesting. I often find myself working quite quickly at this point — perhaps in contrast to how some people imagine landscape photography works. In these situations I often like to work with zoom lenses with long focal lengths. This allows me to quickly respond to things I see at varying distances, to isolate smaller sections of the landscape, and to quickly try out different compositional ideas.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email
Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.
Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
