The Advantages of Winter Light

Death Valley late November 2015

A while back I noticed that some photos I took of sand dunes in Death Valley looked particularly good. I suspected that it was the compass direction of the sun: it was shining at an angle close to the orientation of parallel ridges, so undulations in the dunes were showing some nice highlights and shadows.

So the first thing I focused on was sun compass direction, since the sun sets a lot farther south in the winter. I tested shooting with the sun as specific compass directions on following trips, but that didn’t seem to fully explain what was great about the original light and images.

Death Valley December 2018

Recently I was calculating what size and placement of overhang would be necessary to provide passive solar energy here in the Eastern Sierra: to shade a window in the summer, while allowing sunlight to stream in and heat the house in the winter. The results explained a lot!

In the summer here at about 38 degrees latitude the sun gets about 76 degrees high. In December close to the winter solstice, it only gets 30 degrees high!

The sun elevation is within a degree in the entire surrounding Yosemite – Eastern Sierra – Death Valley area. In March when most people are visiting Death Valley in the hopes of spring wildflowers, or late September through October when people are starting to look at the Eastern Sierra and Yosemite for fall colors, the sun gets 54 degrees high. So in the entire spring through summer and fall time period, the sun is about twice as high as the weeks around late December.

So in the sand dunes in Death Valley, the low angle light was key to really bringing out their textures and undulations. When the compass direction also contributes to particular seasonal lighting, all the better. I do a lot of research into these sorts of factors, so we can make it look easy to show up at various locations right when the light is at its best!

Death Valley December 2012

I personally lead all of my workshops, and I want to be leading photographers when the light and other timing and seasonal considerations are the best. Death Valley winter light is one of my top personal priorities for the year! I don’t know how many people will be able to escape from the common holiday madness around that time of year, but I’ll offer some great options for the photographers who can.

Looking at seasonal and astronomical opportunities for late 2019, I selected late October and mid-December for trips to Death Valley. We’ll have all the usual exotic landscapes in Death Valley, plus the unusual opportunity of evening Milky Way shooting in October, then low angle winter light in December. Come join us!

More information & registration: https://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/blog/death-valley-photography-workshop-2013/

I may add dates in January 2020 as well as I finalize next year’s schedule. Trips for February and March are looking likely as well. Visit the “Contact Us” page to get notified of their release.

Where have you experienced particularly high quality low angle winter light?