Steep mountain catching the sun
Landscape,  Lens-Artists,  Themed galleries

Gallery: glowing moments around the world

April 9, 2023 / 46 Comments

When the magic hour arrives, my thoughts centre on light rather than on the landscape. I search for perfect light, then hunt for something earthbound to match with it.

Galen Rowell, wilderness photographer

When the sun is low in the sky we may feel its heat a little less, but we see it more clearly. The glow of early morning, or just before sunrise, adds warmth to our images. They absorb and reflect its light, taking on a glow of their own.

It seems magical, but there is a scientific explanation for this. When the sun is at a lower angle, its rays filter through a greater distance and through a much thicker amount of atmosphere. Because blue light is scattered more strongly by the atmosphere, it tends to be deflected away in other directions before it gets to us. This leaves relatively more yellow and red light to reach our eyes, and our cameras. It also creates longer shadows, adding an extra dimension to our photos.

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.

James M. Barrie

For Siobhan’s Lens Artists challenge this week, here is a selection of photos taken during those glowing golden hours.

Houses on a hillside and distant mountains caught by the sun

Evening view from the Old Inn in Bandipur, Nepal

Low cloud and a conical mountain

Volcan Arenal in the early morning, Costa Rica

Low sun reflected off a wooden jetty
Tall tree glowing red in the sun

Late afternoon in the countryside near Riga, Latvia

Looking up at yellow stone buildings with ornate details

Seville Cathedral in early morning light

Round fabric and grass building glowing in the sun

Yurt at a desert camp in Uzbekistan, just after sunrise

Low white building seen from the sea and castle on a rock catching the light

The Royal Palace, Muscat, Oman, just before sunset

[my feature photo was also taken in Oman, at Jebel Shams, soon after sunrise]

White houses by an iced-over pond

Low winter sun in Reykjavik

Low sun shining off the sea with snow-covered landscape

Late evening sun in Antarctica

View from a small boat of low sun reflected in water

Watching the sun start to set from a mokoro in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Sun glowing from behind a cloud and palm tree

Khimsar Fort hotel in the morning, Rajasthan

Ruined columns glowing orange and a castle on a hill

Palmyra at sunrise, Syria, in 1996

Brick temple glowing red in the sunlight

A temple at sunrise, Sarangkot, near Pokhara, Nepal

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Domed building with sun shining through lattice windows

Gate of the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi, just before sunset

46 Comments

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