These are a couple of images I made last Sunday while wondering around Caswell Bay. I had been inside all day and needed some air and a change of scenery. I wasn’t planning to make any images, but always carry a camera anyway. None of these images are anything special, but they do show that patience often pays off. I have noticed while doing some of my courses, that as soon as the sun has passed below the horizon, the participants are busy packing away their cameras thinking that is it for the day. Some of my favourite photographs by me and other photographers were made after sunset. In the image above it doesn’t look too promising for any interesting light with the sun entering a band of cloud at the horizon. There is a hint in the sky that there maybe some colour worth photographing, but often this goes rapidly once the sun hits the cloud on the horizon.
After the sun set and entered the cloud, the intensity of the colours increased and produced the lovely saturated colours above. Quite often after a sunset the light levels seem to increase for a minute or two. This is not a perceived change, but is confirmed by the camera metering system. This is the best time to make your post sunset image.
The image below shows how the light looses its intensity and the saturation of the colours changes after a few minutes. It produces a different style of image and is not one to avoid. It just depends on what type of image you want. I often joke with course participants that we will stop making photographs when there isn’t enough light to focus by. What they don’t realise, depending on the time of year this may be 40 to 90 minutes after sunset. So when the sun goes down, don’t pack up straight away. Hang around for a bit and wait and see what happens.