I am sitting here just below the ocean cliffs of Santa Barbara watching the sun dip beyond the horizon. As nature photographers we sure spend a lot of time chasing that magic light. It is just what we do. When I was first exposed to these magical moments in nature they always felt rare to me, like I was just stumbling into a lucky moment. It was not until I began spending large amounts of “continuous” time in nature that I finally unlocked the secret.
There was a time early in my photographic career that I spent over 100 days photographing in the wilds of Alaska. I was outside all day, every day. There were no hotels, no restaraunts, no distractions or comforts of civilization. Spending this much time immersed in nature I learned many great lessons about how this magnificent world works, including the repeatable patterns that produced magical light.
While photographing and observing I learned that magic light occurs most often during moments of transition. Like when night transitions to day, or when day transitions to night. Those are the easy ones. Magic moments also occur during transitions in the weather, like the moments just before a storm, or the moment a storm releases its grasp and departs. The middle of a storm can be terrible, but the transitions are amazing. Another transition to search for is when the seasons transition. There is a short but amazing window of opportunity here. When the white of winter mingles with the colors of autumn. Or when the flower squeaks up through the snow covered ground. These transitions are all around us, and each provides a magical moment for the observing photographer.
If I can offer just one pro tip to make your images exponentially better, it would be to seek out and chase after those times of transition around you. That way when the magic light arrives, like the ocean light now shining before me, you too will be ready to capture it.
