Lessons Learned: Mood lighting

I found so many intriguing images before dawn on foggy mornings! This shot of Dyce's Head lighthouse in Castine is one example of the soft, quiet predawn glow.

I chose a different angle than most of the pictures I've seen of this particular landmark to reveal that it's not actually on the shoreline but up on a bluff among the trees. The meadow in the foreground is filled with an unusual number of reddish plants. Sumac, with it's red/yellow (top/bottom) leaves, a bush with tiny, blueberry-like leaves of rust or reddish brown, and small, more familiar saplings, like oak and maple in their autumn colors. They add context and a warming earthy influence on what otherwise could have been a cool bluish image.

The composition with half the frame filled with the foreground meadow/bluff works well with this lighting, I think, because it's all quite soft and vague, and the lighthouse, as much a relic of Maine's seafaring past as the widow's walks atop several Castine homes, seems appropriately set into the foggy background. It's almost like setting it back in time.

This image reinforces my "be there before dawn" guarantee for getting an interesting picture. Arrive in the dark and watch the new light paint a series of changing pictures for you as it evolves from predawn reflection to direct, low-angle beams and spotlights to highlight points of interest. It works every time.