Seek out silhouettes

Seek out silhouettes

Use the low and setting sun as a backdrop for punchy pics where your subject’s shape tells the story

Towards the end of the daylight hours, the low sun will give similar conditions to those experienced at dawn. There’s a second ‘golden hour’ with warm, flattering light to take advantage of, lasting until the sun sinks below the horizon. Cloud formations may give you a dramatic, fire‑coloured sky, but even on a clear, cloudless day, you’ll still get an evocative warm glow, graduating into a cool blue.

As well as a great time for capturing landscapes, the period around sunset is also an excellent opportunity to shoot silhouettes: whether the sky is clear blue or fiery-red, the dark outline of an iconic subject is a must for any photographer’s creative portfolio.

If the sun is still visible, you can keep it in shot, but any direct light striking the lens will reduce contrast and will usually create visible flare. Although flare reduces image quality, it can’t be avoided when shooting directly into the light, so make the most of it! A good dose of flare in the right place can enhance the mood in a picture, and will give your silhouette shot an extra dose of atmosphere.