What a gorgeous sunset this evening. I was going to take my drone up, but I ran out of time today but instead I caught this most beautiful November sunset.
The first full moon of 2022 is the Wolf Moon, which was on Monday 17th January 2022.
This full moon was so named because villagers used to hear packs of wolves howling in hunger around this time of the year. It’s also known as the Old Moon, Ice Moon and Snow Moon, although the latter is usually associated with February’s full moon.
I took these images on the morning of the 18th at around 8:15am. They look stunning especially with the Minster in the background.
Whether it’s watching the sunset on the beach when you’re on holiday, or just catching a vanishing glimpse of the twilight sky from your kitchen window at home, there’s something stirring about seeing that big golden ball sink below the horizon, painting the sky a million shades.
The image below was taken on the Yorkshire Moors and was one of the most beautiful & colourful I have ever seen. I had seen the heart stone on the ground and thought it would be cool to have that in the image as well.
Copyright SJ Butler Photography
“Dawn and dusk are mutual friends of the sun; one opens the door … to a brand new day and the other one has to shut it to embrace the darkness of night.”
Who loves a beautiful sunset? Yes, so do I! Is there anything more peaceful then taking in the quiet beauty of the setting sun?
As the sun descends below the horizon, creating romantic shades of red and orange across the sky, the world has a chance to breathe in and rejuvenate.
Sunsets
While sunsets are a literal end to a day, they’ve also become symbols of peace, harmony, and the promise of renewal. Sunsets are a great reminder to rest and reset our hearts and minds at the end of each and every day.
As a photographer I love photographing clouds, they can make an ordinary image have the wow factor!
Nature is amazing and often rewards us with incredible opportunities for photographing sunrises, sunsets and sun rays piercing through the clouds, creating stunning views. I love to go out on cloudy days to be rewarded with dramatic and vivid images. Clouds make sunrises and sunsets look stunning.
Scientific bit
As the Sun is low on the horizon at sunrise & sunset, sunlight has had to travel through more of the atmosphere to reach us.
When light hits the atmosphere it is scattered, particularly when dust, smoke &
other particles are in the air.
This scattering affects the blue part of the light spectrum the most. So by the time the sunlight reaches our eyes there is generally more of the red & yellow parts of the spectrum remaining.
Dust and smoke particles commonly build up in the atmosphere beneath high-pressure systems, which are generally associated with dry & settled weather.
Dramatic clouds at sunset, North Yorkshire. SJB Photography
Dark clouds building in the evening sky.
A rainbow of colours in this sunrise image.
Wild clouds looking over the landscape from the top of Buttertubs.
The golden hour (also referred to as the magic hour) in photography is widely seen as the best time of day to shoot. For photographers in the UK, it generally lasts around an hour or less.
Overcast and shorter winter days can limit the magic hour. However, golden hour also happens twice a day. So if you miss it in the morning, there’s always the chance of shooting during the golden hour time in the evening. I like the GH in the Winter months when the sun rises about 07:30 – 08:00 which means I don’t have to get up really early like you would have to in Summer (04:00 I think it is at the moment!)
“What will happen ten minutes from now is going to be radically different than what happened ten minutes before.”
Tina Tryforos
Golden hour in the UK is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset. This means it changes depending on the season and even location. There may be a few minutes difference for when the golden hour starts and ends across the UK.
The Golden Hour
Due to the sun’s low angle, its rays filter through a greater distance. This creates a colour temperature at the redder end of the spectrum, with longer shadows which can add an extra dimension to photos. The light is warm and soft, perfect for golden images of landscapes, nature etc. So, what are you waiting for – get out there with your camera!
“It’s hard to overexpose or underexpose parts of an image, like a subject’s face, because the light is very even and has a beautiful golden hue.”
sjbutler.photography 