Refraction
Sunrise and sunset are critical times for landscape photographers. A low-angled sun provides
directional 'modelling' light, which enhances texture and form on natural landscapes (see 'light and shadow').
Also, the rich colours found in the light at these times illuminate the landscape and the sky in varieties of hues
which are not normally found in the landscape itself: reds, purples, yellows and blues. The landscape painted in this light
takes on atmosphere not seen in the middle of the day.
Refraction is the effect which gives us this spectrum of warm hues with which to paint the landscape for the images
that we make. As the setting sun's photons pass through more
atmospheric layers than when the sun is at its highest point overhead, so the wavelength of the light is shifted,
moving its colour towards the red.
Both the redshift of colour and the modelling provided by low-angled light combine to evoke atmosphere in an image.
The human mind is evolutionally tuned to be most alert and receptive at twilight and perhaps this too is a factor in
why we find landscape images more beautiful, captivating, and resonant with us when awash with the hues of the late
and early hours.
Luskentyre, Isle of Harris, Scotland
A lone clump of pink flowers clings to a crevice in the rock, their colour lost in the surrounding warm glow from the setting sun.
Sgurr Alasdair, Isle of Skye, Scotland
A surreal view towards Corrie Lagan and the highest peak of the Cuillin range, Sgurr Alasdair. The light is provided by the setting
winter's sunlight across the moorlike landscape of brown bracken. The wind was completely still and silent, and the atmosphere on that
December evening was something I could never fully convey in an image. After wandering a little further up the path, a stag stood atop
a rocky crag and watched me.
Sheigra, Sutherland, Scotland
Lambing came early this year, the Crofter owner of this picturesque field of flowers in The Bays told me - consequence of an unusually
warm and early Spring, a pattern which seems to be becoming less unusual with every new year.
Sea of Clouds, Pico Reuivo, Madeira
It might look like it was taken from an aeroplane, but in fact this shot of endless clouds hanging over the Atlantic Ocean was the
view on the hike down from Pico Ruivo, the highest peak of Madeira at nearly 2000 metres. I used a tripod and 200mm lens in order to
isolate the clouds from the scenery.
Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile
Gillespies Beach, Westland, New Zealand
The beaches on the west coast of the South Island are littered with driftwood - a photographer's dream!
Ben Ohau Range, South Island, New Zealand
These mountains in Mackenzie High Country are popular with Kiwi skiiers in the winter. Here shown soon after sunrise the first snows
of autumn cling to the rocky grooves of their upper flanks.
Loch An Fhir Bhallaich, Isle of Skye, Scotland
The December's setting sun cast a deep red hue across the brown heather on the lower southern slopes of the Cuillin ridge.
Alpenglow on Mt Hunter and the Alaska Range, Alaska
Moonrise, Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England
Looking across the Little Minch towards the north shore of Skye, from The Bays on the Isle of Harris.
Winter in Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England
Winter 2009 produced some rare hoar frosts in the south of England. Reaching Ashdown Forest well before dawn, the frost of this track
reflected the blue and purple hues of the sun's rays as they were refracted over the eastern horizon.
East Head, West Wittering, England
East Head is a National Trust-managed sand dune spit in West Sussex. It's one of the last remnants of natural wild coastline in the
south east of England - most of the south east coastline is sand and shingle beaches held together by groynes. Come sunset all the
day trippers have left to go get their dinner, leaving me, my camera and my tripod to play with the shapes left by the outgoing tide...
