How the Golden Hour progresses (Part One)

So it being not too awful outside today, I thought it might be a perfect opportunity to see what the magical "Golden Hour" does to light. Sunrise and sunset are the times for the warmest, most pleasing light in photography, and the setting sun is much easier for me to take advantage of. I'm not a morning person!

Now, when it's a little nicer out, I want to do this properly, as an almost two hour long exercise that goes straight into dusk. The wind was getting pretty strong, so I bailed earlier than I should have this time.

I set up right smack in front of the Capitol building. It faces perfectly West, so the light would really shine on the marble and stone of the facade and dome. After playing around a bit with settings, I began taking pictures. Sunset was right around 5 p.m. Skip to the end to see my conclusions from the exercise.

Equipment Used 

Nikon D3100 Camera
35mm f/1.8 lens
Velbon tripod

Images

All of these images were shot with a 35mm lens at 1/400 and f/1.8

4:48 p.m.


5:05 p.m.


5:06 p.m.


5:08 p.m.


5:10 p.m.


5:15 p.m.


5:20 p.m


5:25 p.m.


5:30 p.m.



Conclusions

Honestly, I'm not sure which image is my favorite. I believe that it is the warmth seen in the 5:20 p.m. shot, but the off-white and shadows of the 5:10 shot are nice in their own way. The use of an all white building looks like it overstates the effects of the setting sun. When I complete Part Two of this series (and do the full two hour exercise), I will be sure to pick a more normal landscape, rather than the very reflective National Mall.

Library of Congress Open House

Here in Washington, the city shuts down (for the most part) on some unusual days. While New York City is bustling, nearly all of D.C.'s Federal workers are home on President's Day. Almost all, because some of them maintain the Library of Congress, and invite the public in to raise their voices, take pictures, and wander through the stacks.

It's a bit of a gimmick - since you can get a library card to the LoC in about 20 minutes, but even that won't let you talk loudly or take pictures. It just gets you access to an incredible library.

The architecture of the Library of Congress is spectacular (the daily guided tours, which are free, are some of the best in the District), and a chance to take pictures in the reading room sold me on heading down to get some shots.

Equipment Used  

Nikon D3100 Camera, 35mm f/1.8 lens

Images

 

 

First Sports Photography Adventure

Tonight I tried my hand at sports photography - something that I've never done seriously, only just played around with. I did a college basketball game, and borrowed one lens from a friend. Without further ado, here are some of the shots.

Equipment Used  

Nikon D3100 Camera
24-70mm f/2.8 lens (the borrowed lens)
55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens

Egg Exercise - Lighting

So I thought that I would do a bit of the egg exercise - lighting an egg and seeing how you can do some different things with one light source available to you. I used a folded sheet of paper to act as a simple reflector, as well.

Of course, balancing two cutting boards with a box of crackers resulted in a small accident halfway through. On the plus side, the cracks made for interesting patterns (and one interesting photo where a small chip was my subject, rather than the full egg). One important lesson learned - be sure to boil your eggs before attempting this! I'm klutzy enough that I knew to do that ahead of time.

Equipment Used  

Nikon D3100 Camera, 35mm f/1.8 lens
Two Cutting Boards
One Egg
One L.L. Bean Camping Light
One white piece of paper

Images