Photography is all about light.

There’s a song on Greg Keeler’s Gone Album, where he sings ‘what a difference a day makes’ and as I was browsing my photo library, these two photos jumped out at me: 

They’re both not exactly from the same spot and I doubt even with the same lens. My point is that photography is all about knowing when to shoot and when not to. Usually the best time is dawn and dusk. I’m especially liking dusk, as I can great punchy over-saturated colors with my Nikon D300 like I’d never imagined.

I didn’t plan these two shots. I didn’t shoot one at high noon, and then come back at sunset to finish the job and make my point. I guess this shows two things. 1. I need a hobby, and 2. I live on the river. 

My point is with different light, whether it be strobes, direct flash, bouncing off a ceiling, sunrise, high noon, fluorescent or direct sunlight. Each of these (and other types of light I’ve missed) types of light can produce completely different results with the same subject. 

Photography isn’t about Photoshop. It’s about seeing the light, or the colors, or shapes, or line. It’s not about layers and curves and levels and masking. I can be, but shooting is about seeing. And getting what you see onto film (oops – showing my age – er, sensor).

So instead of ‘what a difference a day makes’, how about ‘what a difference light makes’?  If you don’t have light, you don’t have a photo.