If you have read my blogs from the beginning you may remember that the word "photography" means drawing or writing with light. That aught to tell us that photography is all about light. Yes, the scene is important but light is more important than the scene. I was photographing at Big Sur's McVay falls this year. Within an hour we had seen the weather change multiple times. When I just got there it was overcast with flat light. By the way, if you want to be a good photographer learn to read the light, and being able to read the weather also helps. Flat light is not typically a problem. In fact, I like shooting in flat light. You can adjust your contrast in post processing and give life to flat images. I could see that rain was coming. Sure enough, within twenty minutes it rained. About twenty minutes later the rain moved on and the sun came out. With the sun came a major change in the light. The sun did not last for long. A few minutes later the sun moved in behind some clouds. Another few minutes later the sun set.

          Please do not leave when it rains if you can see that the rain is from a cell or two. If the whole area is socked in with thick cloud cover you may consider leaving. Staying paid off because I got to photograph in different kinds of light. Look at the next three images. They were all taken within a half an hour or so from each other. They are all from the same scene. The only real difference is the light. I want you to see the difference light makes:

Here is the first image. You can see that the light is flat (actually, the light was flat. I added a lot of contrast to get the image to where it is). As you will remember from last week's blog, I used a slow shutter speed to show the wave pulling back. Now the clouds move away and the sun comes out:

Just look at the difference in the light. This image is much more alive. The light is warm. I still used a slowish shutter speed and still shot as the wave pulled away but you can see that the "lines" the water makes pulling back does not show as much motion. Because the sun is out my shutter speed is faster thus not showing as much motion. Here is the last image taken just before sunset:

Since the sun is almost set and behind thick clouds this image is colder. The beach's light is colder. The warmth is gone and the rocks that form this little bay are darker (even though I lightened them in post processing). Light can change the entire mood of an image. Always focus on the light. Shoot in different kinds of light.