I took this photo at 5 p.m. on February 27, 2010. The exposure is correct and the composition isn't bad but something amazing can happen if I just wait 39 more minutes prior to snapping the picture.
At noon on any given day sunlight must pass through around 6 miles of the earth's atmosphere to get to your subject. There are two points in a day at sunrise and sunset when the light must travel horizontally through literally thousands of extra miles of atmosphere and, more importantly, the light must pass through atmosphere that is close to the planet surface where there are more air-borne particles.
As the light comes across the horizon, these atmospheric particles filter the light and the result is a change in color that photographers call warming. The difference in your picture is amazing.
Look at the full size copies of each picture by clicking on them and notice the difference. Same camera in roughtly the same postion. One picture at 5:00, the second at 5:39. By 6:00 it was too dark to take a good picture.
The next time you are shooting a landscape or natural scene, consider not only the composition and exposure of your picture. Think about using the magic 15 minutes to give it a tryly unique and appealing look.
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