I’m slightly miffed that by far the most popular post I’ve submitted here has been a long, blank vertical image (“Eskimo sex and other titles”). I’m not sure what this says about my photographic abilities or, ahem, your critical ones. According to Google analytics, these posts don’t have a huge following among the Inuit.
Anyway, instead of moping, I’ve taken my camera and tripod out at that magical time in Athens: just before dusk. The tallest buildings still catch the sun, but at ground zero artificial light contrast very prettily with the growing darkness before becoming too garish.
It’s an easy time to spot: birds get audibly excited (ornithologists can explain why they start screaming at this time). As the summer progresses and long, hot days alternate with short hot nights, pre-dusk is a time of balance. When it gets really hot in the afternoon, sounds die out, birds sleep and people stay inside. As dusk approaches, people get up after their siesta and shower. You can hear a tornado (my collective noun) of hair driers and the cafés bump up the music to attract punters into the bars they suddenly change into.
This period on the cusp of nightfall is brief and extraordinarily difficult to capture. My camera’s light meter is often thrown off. I recently bought a light meter for this and other uses, but I haven’t had time to upload camera profiles, so it doesn’t really work. I’ll be posting more of this kind of shot and would welcome any input on lighting and exposure.
The images are presented sequentially, from mid-afternoon to nightfall.
My neighbour's bougainvillea, of which I am very jealous. Selective desaturation
Playing with selective desaturation again
The purple and blues were exactly like this. Other colours muted.
I rather messed this one up, but the idea was sound.
#5 is really good!