Photography is all about lighting. Through manipulating light, you can add sharp edges to your photos or soften them. You can envelop your subject in shadows to make details pop out. When photographing outdoors, you can change your light by choosing the time of day with care. Shooting at sunrise or sunset can add dramatic colors to the sky and take advantage of artificial lighting on buildings. Shooting at mid-day will give you the harshest light. While in between these times, you have a wide variety of lighting angles and shadow effects to choose from.
I am not a fan of early mornings, so I have never done a sunrise shoot. On the other hand, I am not averse to being out at sunset. This image shows the drama that you can capture as the sun goes down. The clouds light up and show their depth. The building lights have come on and highlighted the beauty of the central dome while wreathing the others with shadow. Timing is essential for these shots because the lighting changes very rapidly. A few minutes later and the light begins to fade from the clouds losing the details of the sky, and within an hour they will only be a mass of darkness.
Play with your lighting and timing to see how you can change your photography for the better.
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