7

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / The Nighttime Sky

wavelengths are dispersed at different rates. The

shorter wavelengths, which have blue and green,

disperse more quickly than the longer wave-

lengths of red and orange. This means that at

sunrise and sunset, when the ray of light has the

farthest to travel, the light is more red and

orange. Any particles in the air can exaggerate

this effect. Usually, the sunset colors are more

vibrant than the sunrise colors because there are

more particles in the sky at sunset than at sunrise,

but that is not always the case. Many times, city

pollution can cause fantastic sunrises, as shown in

Figure 7-2 — a sunrise shot from a hotel in

Miami, Florida — and while pollution is bad, it

did make for a stunning image.

location look great. There is very little difference
between taking a great sunrise and sunset photo
other than that the timing is reversed, but the
results can be quite different depending on the
location. Because I live on the West Coast of the
United States, the sunset happens over the
Pacific Ocean, creating classic sunset photos.
There are amateur and professional photogra-
phers down at the beach just about every evening
of the year trying to capture that perfect sunset.

The colors that are produced at the first light and
the last light of the day differ from the light at
midday because of the angle of the sun and the
way the light waves travel. Light is made up of
different wavelengths, and as the rays of light
travel through the atmosphere, the different

ABOUT THIS PHOTO This photo of a Miami sunrise has a lot of red and orange. Taken at 1/250 second, f/5.6, and ISO 200.

7-2