Evening Light
Evening Light
One of the last photos I’ll share for now from this past weekend’s trip to the Bald Head Island. The warm tones of an approaching sunset are witnessed in the sand dunes and horizon — contrasted nicely by the cool tones of the upper sky and moon.

I stood watching this scene being painted by the light for many moments.

This photo was made with the Canon S90, ISO 80, f/7.1, 1/200 sec, 7.49mm, and I’m left wondering if my D700 or D300 could have done any better job in the same circumstances? Perhaps, but for use on the web I doubt most could see a difference.

Strange to think most consumer cameras are superior to cameras professional photographers used only a few years ago and in many cases their capabilities are pushing up against professional camera capabilities of today.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

10 Comments

  1. A beautiful combination of warm terrain and cool sky and moon. I agree the S90 did a fine job of pulling off this very effective picture. I took my D300 out yesterday and what a hand full it is compared to the s90. Fine job. Have a nice weekend.

    • Don, thanks! Yes, I know that feeling but yet there are times when the sturdiness and fit of the D300/D700 are in some small way reassuring.

  2. Wonderful subtle patterns that almost hide in the sky, and perfect colors for sure. Of course, presented on the web a suject like this will show now different rendering from a high-class compact or a good DSLR, and at ISO 80 I guess there won’t be differences even in print. But the low ISO I’d say is cruciable for this result.
    For a long time admiring Juha Haataja’s work with his small sensor LX3 on http://lightscrape.blogspot.com I have learned that mastering what you have is the key factor, much more than having the theoretically best tool. Taking into account scarce ressources, the most important factor probably is relentlessly seeing and creating images and enjoying them instead of theorising about the different IQ the cameras deliver)

  3. You really did a great job capturing the warmth of the evening, I love the tones in the grass.

    • Steve, thanks, I love the grass warm tones as well and their contrast to the cooler tones in the upper sky make them all the more beautiful to me.

  4. Even though I do not own a point and shoot (yet) I agree the quality of the images challenge the SLRs. As a blogger I think we could use only the point and shoot and no one would even know. Love the colors in this image but what makes the image for me is the vision of the photographer. Well done, Earl.

    • Monte, I would agree with you about only needing a point and shoot for blogging. Thanks and I hope your weekend off is going well!

      Oh, I did make note of that “yet” statement. :-)

  5. There is something that is quite calming about evening light like this. I think you have captured it perfectly. That little s90 continues to serve you well Earl.

    • Hi Mark, yes the wonderful evening, the time for putting the days events in order and prepare for the quiet darkness of night. I’ve found it’s the time of day when I’m most patient at getting a shot.

      I continue to be surprised at the amount of use I’ve found for the S90. It’s certainly responsible for photos being made that would never have happened otherwise. I hope you’re doing we’ll there in Michigan.