One of the most important things that a serious outdoor photographer can learn is that there are no bad days.   That's especially true in this great state of Maine, where we're proud to say things like: "If you don't like the weather today, don't worry, it'll change."

     If you ever look at an annual sunlight chart for Maine, you'll find that we do quite well.   That's not to say that we don't get our share of three-day soakers.   But if we didn't, we'd lose a vital ingredient that supports our wildlife resource: water.   Not to mention that a too dry Maine Woods is a very scary place.   And you might be surprised to find that overcast days, even rainy ones, are good for nature photography!

     Many folks think that sunny, bright blue sky days are the best ones for photography.   Wrong.   Those days are perfect for getting a tan or for enjoying that Maine specialty, air conditioned summer.   But except for the golden hours right after dawn and the few hours just before sunset, a bright sun usually makes too hard a light source for truly great images.   It casts dark shadows from every feature of the critter or the person or the scene that blocks the light, and those shadows have hard edges.   It also reflects harshly from anything that's light in color, or even worse, white.

     Let's take a look at one of the most important characteristics of film: latitude.   Photography is the recording of light, pure and simple.   A film's latitude defines its ability to record the range of light.   The range of light from black to white could be divided into ten segments, sometimes called zones.   If you consider that most proper exposure settings would be set to record a zone in the middle of that range, it's easy to see why a film that can accurately record only a zone or two on either side of a proper exposure setting would have no chance at recording accurately when both ends of the brightness range are important parts of the image that you're after.

     If your target is in the woods on a bright sunny day the problem is even worse.   The mottled light created by the mix of dark shade and bright splashes of sun on your target makes a nearly impossible condition for any film to record.

     Take a black Labrador retriever to the beach on a bright sunny day and try to make a good photograph and you'll have a better understanding of all of the above.   How do I know that?   I've been blessed with two of those best friends in my life.   And today I treasure the photographs that I took of them in early morning or late afternoon light or on overcast days.

     Next consider that the light that we record when we make a photograph is most often reflected light.   The exception would be when we actually record light itself, say as in a sunset.   Reflected light is what your camera meter is set to evaluate so that it, or even better, you, can set the proper exposure.   Since the art of proper exposure setting is a whole topic in itself, so we'll leave most of it to a future column.   For now, just consider how every object in nature reflects a given amount of light, some much more than others.

     Consider the Maine moose.   Pretty dark critter, right?   How about a bull moose with a rack of antlers cleaned of velvet?   Those antlers are often quite light in color, aren't they?   They also reflect a lot of light.   On a sunny day they can reflect light three or four zones more light than the rest of your basic fall bull moose.

     If you ever look real close at a big-racked bull moose on a sunny day, you'll also see that his big antlers cast a shadow over his eye unless he turns his head just right.   Since the most important part of any wildlife photograph is the eye - it should almost always show and it should always be sharp and in focus if it does - you've got two strikes against you.   So to photograph a bull moose properly, you really need light that doesn't present brightness range problems that challenge the film’s latitude or that cast a deep shadow over his eye.

     Right about now you're probably thinking that I must like only the rainy days for moose photography, right?   Wrong.   While I do shoot in the rain at times, my perfect day starts with a great sunrise, hopefully with some light clouds to reflect the vivid dawn colors, and then turns to a thin overcast that makes soft light until a few hours before nightfall.   Then the skies would clear except for those few clouds that reflect the beautiful colors of the setting sun.

     And on the days when the sun is out bright all day and the sky is blue?   I just wait for a cloud.

     You see there really are no bad days for nature photography.

Bill Silliker, Jr. teaches wildlife & nature photography for L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools and has done the photography for 5 books, several of which he also wrote. He is editor of the website www.wildlifewatcher.com as well as for his own website at www.camerahunter.com

© Copyright 2000 Bill Silliker, Jr. all rights reserved.