Ask any seasoned photographer what the most important ingredient for a good photo is and odds are the answer will be lighting. Landscape photographers rise early in the morning to catch the morning's first rays, often trekking to a location in the predawn hours to be setup and ready when the sun first peeks over the horizon. Later as the sun is high in the sky most have packed up and moved on only to be found again late in the afternoon as the sun prepares to set for the day. Rarely will they be seen at high noon when the sun is directly overhead. Often I have been driving along through a particularly scenic area in the early afternoon only to have my assistant ask " doesn't anything catch your eye for a photo?" My answer, "it's the light" or " the light's all wrong. While direct lighting tends to bring out much detail in a scene, it also has a tendency to make a photo look flat and contrasty. Ever seen a photo that seemed to have all of the elements, composition, depth of field, good subject, but still didn't quite have that magic? Chances are the missing ingredient was the lighting.

Take a look around in the early morning as the sun is coming up. Not just the beautiful sunset, turn around and look at the light as it falls on the scene around you. Notice the warm glow that it casts on objects. The three-dimensional feeling it imparts on the scene. Try the same thing late in the afternoon just before the sun sets. Again look not to the sunset but to the feeling the light evokes as it falls on the scene. The warmth of the lighting as well as the direction. As an experiment try photographing the same scene at different times of the day, early morning, high noon and late afternoon. This will give you a good look at the effect of natural lighting as it relates to your subject. I think you will be quite surprised if you have not tried this before!