Transient light – when only colour will do.
Transition
Photography is painting with light – and that light can be very transient in the landscape. The weather and consequently the light can change in an instant, so to capture these fleeting moments there has to be an element of good fortune.
This image was taken a couple of weeks ago in the beautiful county of Dorset. We were experiencing all types of weather that week; in fact it could be said we had all four seasons in just one day. Bright sunshine followed by clouds and then hail showers, turning the ground white if only for a short time. Hopefully the last blast of winter before the summer truly arrives. At this time of year we also see fields turn yellow as the vibrant colour of the oil seed rape crops burst into life. Combining these two key ingredients is potentially a recipe for some good landscape photography which can only be enjoyed in colour.
When I took this shot I was standing in sunshine, looking back across the rolling hills to the north of the county town of Dorchester. As we returned to our cottage I could see dark shower clouds moving in quickly from the west and as the rain fell on parts of the countryside it was lit by the sun. I quickly parked the car, got out, and walked very briskly to find a suitable position to take a handful of shots. Within a few minutes the special light had gone, but I knew I had captured the transient light and colour of the scene before me.
alan frost photography 
10 Responses to “Transient light – when only colour will do.”
A very atmospheric “grab” shot Alan. The colours do work particularly well although I would like to see a mono interpretation, I’m sure it would work well.
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Hi John. As someone who largely works in b&w I didn’t think a mono conversion would be appropriate. Given your suggestion a mono version will be on its way in the next day or two!
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Lovely.
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Thanks very much.
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(Just catching up with a few days offline) and I viewed the 3 posts backwards – 3,2 and then this 1. I think I liked the combined B&W and colour image number 3. I’m not sure there was enough contrast for the B & W version (which followed this post).
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Thank you Vicki. I’m always interested to hear your views. My preference is probably the mono, but the ‘combined’ image also works well in my opinion.
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One thing I’ve noticed this Spring ‘down South’ is that appear to be far fewer fields of Oilseed Rape than I was used to seeing in Northamptonshire. I miss that sweep of yellow. You caught this in the nick of time and it was well worth the effort. I haven’t seen the B&W version yet but there are some scenes that demand ‘colour’ and this is one of them.
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For some reason there are far fewer ‘yellow’ fields this year, which is a shame as they do offer good photo opportunities. I hope you will comment on the mono version when you have time, as I would welcome your thoughts.
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As you know we visited Dorset again this last weekend and the yellow was even more vivid. A stunning image!
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Thank you!
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