Heads of wheat

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." - Henry David Thoreau

SRP asked me in a recent comment if lighting is something you can learn. She was not referring to light in the essence of studio light rigs and setting, though that is a fantastic piece of knowledge and understand to have in your pocket. She was referring to, or at least I believe she was, learning to know when lighting conditions are optimal for certain shots.

Of course optimal is not what you are always looking to capture. What ever message your photo is trying to convey may very well be caught using less than optimal light for the subject. The good news however is that you can and over time do develop a knack for light and there are a lot of fantastic books that can help you understand what light works for what kind of shooting. However I will share this much, those dreary grey and cloudy days that usually leave tourists packing up their cameras actually produce some of the best lighting conditions. That is as long as your intention is not to actually have blue sky.

But like most anything, if you don't use it you loose it. After just a 6 week hiatus from shooting I had already started to just shoot the light I saw rather than play with the available conditions and think in terms of what I could or could not do with the available lighting.

The shot above is a salvaged attempt of a hike to a destination where I ended up missing the sunset I had been hoping for.