My favorite times of day to photograph birds are the early mornings or late afternoons. Why? Because the light from the sun is like no other. It’s warm. Imbued with the richness of reds, orange and yellow, it makes every subject I photograph seem to glow. The starkness of the shadows at that time are also incredible for showing intricate details. In the harsh light of mid-day, everything tends to be washed out. The light is predominant in the blue end of the spectrum, which makes colors and textures seem subdued instead of accented. For me, there is nothing like shooting in the mornings or near sunset.

Sunrise at Gull Pond, Edwin B. Forsythe NWR

There are many challenges for the nature and wildlife photographer at these times of day, however. Light levels are lower. Shutter speeds and ISO values have to be considered. It’s a compromise. You have this incredible light, but not much of it. It makes things very challenging. In order to get good shots, you have to be ever aware of your conditions. If you are like me and don’t have a $10,000.00 F 2.8 lens, it’s even more critical. I shoot with an Canon EOS 50D and a relatively slow F5.6 400mm L-Series Canon lens. (Without image stabilization). If you have a still subject, the problem is less severe. You can rest your camera comfortably and take a slower exposure without as much danger of blurring. Getting the right values set for the exposure is a matter of trial and error and learning what your equipment is capable of. But the return on investment in that time and effort is worth it. The shots you can get at these “Golden Hours” are so far beyond what you can capture at mid-day.

American Oystercatcher, 30 minutes before sunset

Great Blue Heron - Barnegat Beach Breakwater

Great Blue Heron with Fish Breakfast - Edwin B. Forsythe NWR

One of the amazing and wonderful things about the warm light of early morning and late afternoon is how it can highlight your subject against a rich and darker background. These conditions only exist for a short time. Having a deep blue-gray water underneath say, a Great Blue Heron is only possible during these times, for instance. The sun is high enough to light up the subject like a yellow spot light, while the surrounding water and terrain are still deeply hued and dark. The built in high-contrast makes for stunning images. The challenge comes in being able to use relatively slow shutter speeds for these subjects, in order to capture enough detail, even in the shadows.

Snow Bunting just after Sunrise

Female Cardinal picking berries on a Juniper early in the morning.

The amazing thing about this warm light is what it does to the subject of the photograph. The rich hues of the sun’s early or late-day light add a special hue and tint to the bird or subject in question. What you see is not the perfect representation of the animal or object, but one that is bathed in a golden hue. It enriches the subject and adds to it, while not overshadowing the subject itself. Things just look “different” at this time of day, but in a beautiful way. The added benefit of the angle of the light on the subject enhances the shadows. This adds more detail, and makes the subject stand out much more starkly. Drama is the watch-word for these conditions. You can see things that you otherwise would miss in the bright but harsh overhead light of mid-day.

Mallard Duck Drake at sunset

Hooded Merganser (Male) just after sunrise

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron at Sunset

Shadows make an interesting shot compelling. The difference in light levels means that the prominent features of the subject that are illuminated become even more noticeable. We can see things we otherwise would miss or overlook.

Peregrine Falcon uses an Osprey Nest to preen early in the morning.

In the above photograph what becomes so incredibly obvious is that the Peregrine’s eye is glinting in the early light of the sun rising over the horizon. The errant feather is has been trying to deal with is glowing brightly in the morning rays. The wing feathers and tail are partially lit, with deep shadows everywhere else. Even the nest shows areas of very light and bright twigs with areas of deep shadow. This gives the image great depth. You can see and understand the 3 dimensional reality of the photo as a result.

The hardest challenge for taking advantage of warm light of early morning or late day is in action and flight shots. This really is a lesson in learning the limitations of your equipment along with the characteristics of your subject.  Knowing when to shoot and what to shoot and how at these times requires patience and experimentation. For me, with my slow F5.6 lens, I need to be very aware of light levels in order to get a crisp image. Sure, I could increase the ISO speeds to very high levels, but I will sacrifice detail on all but the closest shots in order to get shutter speeds I want. So, a compromise in in order. I try to shoot flying birds at a least 1/800 second or greater whenever possible. When light levels are really getting low, I will go as low as 1/640th. This is only good if the subject is soaring and gliding. If there is a lot of wing movement, things will be blurred. I tweak my ISO speeds between 160 and about 250, but no more than that. If I can’t fire a shot at least 1/640th at ISO 250, it’s time to call it a day.

Adult Bald Eagle soaring late in the afternoon at Forsythe NWR

Hooded Merganser Pair heading off at the end of the day.

The above shot of the Merganser pair was extraordinarily difficult. I had the shutter speed at 1/1000 sec and the ISO at 160. I waited for them to be in full sun as best I could as they rapidly flew in front of me. Even at it’s best, this shot required some minor lightening in a photo software program to be a decent shot. I keep that in mind when I shoot. I know not only the limitations of my gear, but what post-processing the image might be able to stand. In this case, I knew that anything below 1/1000 sec would be far too blurry due to their speed. I also knew that the original shot may be a bit dark, but not so dark that I couldn’t bring out details with a little post-processing work. Far better to have a sharper image you need to lighten a little than an unusable, blurry but bright image to start with. The quality of the light at this time of day is so appealing and makes for such a wonderful shot, that a little compromise is sometimes needed to get the shots you want. Now, if I had a 400mm F2.8, I could shoot this at close to 1/2000 th second and not have to do a thing. As always, your equipment and knowledge of it makes all the difference between a really good shot and an unusable one.

Black Skimmer reflecting the last light of day

The shot above of the Black Skimmer was one of the best shots I’ve ever managed under low light. I took a few hundred shots of this bird and his partner fishing the channel at Forsythe NWR in Oceanville, NJ. I was using fairly slow shutter speeds as the light dimished greatly. 1/640th to at most 1/800th. Anyone who knows Skimmers understand that they are very quick, but somewhat predictable after you watch them for a bit. In this case it was the ability to pan fluidly with the subject as he flew that allowed for a sharp photo. Notice that the background is slightly blurred and out of focus (as expected). This is totally acceptable and actually makes the subject stand out even more. What is so compelling about shots like this is that you can get a subject to stand out in extreme contrast to the background. Worth the effort.

Northern Harrier Cruising the Marsh for a Meal at Sunset

This Northern Harrier was very cooperative in that it kept flying back and forth in front of me. The light was getting very low as the sun was scraping the horizon. In this case the foreground and background have areas that are lit up brightly. However, the subject, the Harrier is in an area where it contrasts well against the background and is not lit at the same level. It makes it stand out as if it’s in real “3D”. One of the wonderful aspects of shooting at this time of day. Again, panning with the subject was critical.

Double Crested Cormorant, Close up and personal.

The Cormorant above was in close. Very close. The light was low in the sky, and when he came up from fishing, his head, feathers and colors glowed as if lit from within. A perfect time to capture the incredible detail and richness of the colors in his eye, bill and feathers. The angle of the late day light was illuminating his eye at an almost perfectly perpendicular angle. That made it “pop” as if it was almost lit from within. You can get these kind of images at no other time.

American Bittern in the early morning.

This American Bittern is getting ready for a productive day of fishing a small channel. The early light of the morning shows the details of it’s feathers, eyes and bill. Not only lit brilliantly by the sun, the shadows of the feathers and features add depth to the image.

Peregrine makes a wide turn

The Peregrine Falcon above was taken about an hour before sunset. By timing the shots right, it made a turn in front of me allowing the sun to light his underside completely and in great detail. A very lucky shot, because this bird decided to make slow looping turns to check me and my fellow photographers out, as a curiosity. Normally they would be speeding by at close to 90 mph.

Northern Harrier courses slowly overhead.

One of the challenges of photography at early morning and late day is getting enough light on the subject. As great as the shadow play is on the ideal shots, a bird in motion is a huge challenge. It’s only lit in a good way when flying overhead when it gets in just the right position relative to the photographer and to the sun. In this case, the head and eye and one wing are fully illuminated. Luckily, the other wing, though in shadow, has some detail. This is what I call the “perfect” catpture. It has great contrast, is sharp, and has detail in the most critical area. The head and eye. In any bird photo, if the eye is blurry or indistinct, you’ve missed the perfect shot. You can have great shots without it, but if you have it, the shot is that much better. The warm light of late day in this case was enough to get one really good shot out of about 25 throw away shots during the same sequence.

Snow Goose makes a turn for landing at sunrise

We all know that a Snow Goose is white with black and gray. But not at sunrise. At this time it is yellow, white, black and gray. It’s that added color from the sun’s early rays that make it special. It casts this common bird in a new light. Not only to cast stark shadows as it moves and twists and turns, but the added color of the sun announcing it’s presence at the start of the day, unmistakably. It’s as if the birds are bathed in it and soaking it up as a new day dawns.

Sleepy Adult Black Crowned Night Heron

This  Black Crowned Night Heron is sleeping and waiting patiently for the darkness to fall. After the sun goes down it will be fishing and hunting most of the night, while it maintains complete secrecy in the blackness. But now it’s lit up by the sun only a few minutes from setting below the horizon. At this time it’s colors and all that surrounds it are turned to gold. Water turns from blue to deep golden brown. The grasses nearby are no longer green but green-yellow  and glowing.  These are the times when the world takes on a whole new look. A magical time.