The Sun and Photography

The sun rising over Sundarban. Photo: Ihtisham Kabir

While the moon may be more beautiful and certainly more romantic, it is the sun's energy that sustains life on earth. We take this for granted but an example is illuminating. A pond the size of one acre receives 4500 kilowatts from sunshine during a sunny day. This energy gives rise to a complex chain of life forms in the water, from algae to aqueous plants to tiny insects to bigger insects to fish, frogs, snails, et cetera. The food chain, where the larger living creature lives by eating the smaller one, starts with the power of the sun.

Of course, all our crops and farming depend on sunlight as trees use photosynthesis to convert the sun's energy into food. We are fortunate to be in the tropics with abundant sunshine all year. But those places in the far north or south do not receive much sunlight during their winter. They have adapted by growing the maximum possible during summertime, when the sun shines almost non-stop. Thanks to long summer days with 19 or more hours of sunshine, Alaskan farmers, for example, grow 1000-pound pumpkins, 130-pound cabbages, 35-pound broccolis and 65-pound cantaloupes.

When photographing outdoors, I must pay attention to the way the sun's rays light up our world. Sunlight has infinite variations in quality, even on a clear cloudless day. The most obvious is the angle of light. The sun's rays in early morning and late afternoon, as the sun rises and sets, strike the world around us at an angle. This light reveals more details on the surface of the subject being photographed, be it a person, a bird or a car. At midday, however, the sun is directly overhead and its rays strike only the top of the subject – a person's head or a building's roof. This casts shadows on other parts of the subject. Thus, for example, a person photographed outdoors at noon will appear to have dark cavities around his or her eyes – a decidedly unappealing look.

For photographers, the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset – when sunlight has the most appealing qualities – is known as the Golden Hour, such is its charm. In addition to the angle, the sun's rays at this time also have a warm glow and a diffuse quality, allowing fuzzier shadow outlines, resulting in a pleasing photograph.

There are also more subtle seasonal variations of the quality of sunlight. When the air is dry, a bright sunny day's light is clear and vibrant. This is an advantage for the photographer in spring and summer. But moist days bring haze when numerous tiny droplets of water conspire against the photographer. The rays of the winter sun have less energy and susceptible to fog and haze, two enemies of the photographer seeking sharp photographs.

Most of us do not always have to think of the sun's bounty, even with the knowledge that life on earth would cease to exist without it. But when one wants make a good photograph outdoors, one must carefully and constantly watch and evaluate the sun's light.

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