If you have taken a workshop with us, chances are good you have heard me say this: optimize the light for the best photograph. In other words, all light has something that will photograph well in it, you just have to figure out how to use the light for the best photograph. Or as a photo editor once told me, “there is no bad light, there are only photographers who don’t know how to photograph in that light.”
I just returned from SE Alaska leading a photo workshop to photograph black bears (and whales, tidewater glaciers, seals, eagles…). The area we photographed the bears was in a beautiful temperate rainforest. Massive spruce and hemlock trees towered over streams filled with pink salmon. And at any one time, we had up to 14 black bears fishing in the river for salmon. On overcast cloudy days the light was even and low contrast, you could photograph any direction or subject you wanted.
But our last day we had bright sunny conditions, not a cloud in the sky. Many people and other photographers were saying sunny conditions just didn’t work in this location, too much contrast and ‘terrible light for photography.’ With these ‘bad light conditions’ I got my best photographs of the week. How so? I focused on what advantages the light offered.
With direct midday sun overhead, I noticed the sun penetrated the brown stream water much better than on overcast days. Polarizers had helped with reducing some glare on cloudy days, but with overhead sun, every salmon in the river was clearly visible, and the image had much more drama and depth. This overhead light reminded me of assignments in the Virgin Islands shooting over/under photographs for Nikon. The best light for underwater photography is midday on a sunny day, the sun reflects off the sandy bottoms and the water illuminates beautifully. Here I was in the Tongass rain forest experiencing the same thing. Overhead sun was perfect for illuminating the fish underwater.
On our bear photo workshops I love capturing a ‘salmon donut’. Bears will wade out into a pool of salmon, and be surrounded by fish…a salmon circle with a bear in the middle. I waited for just the right moment, and a large black bear waded right into the middle of the salmon stream. I got my shot….and optimized the light for a unique image on a bright sunny day.