Morning Light????

[dicklaxt]

Why is morning shooting a preference? I hear that the light is more conducive to good sharp images but wgy???

dick

[Daniel Bates]

I prefer to shoot in the morning or the evening because the shadows cast are not nearly as harsh as noon sunlight. Also, the colour of the light is often golden-hued and more pleasing to the eye.

[CaptainTom]

You are referring to what is called the "golden hours" of daylight. Since the sun is lower on the horizon the rays have to pass through a lot more atmosphere than when it is directly over head. This causes the bluish spectrum to bend away from the earth and the reddish spectrum to bend toward the earth. The light is much "warmer" in color.
Also, you can't look directly at the sun at noon, but can usually look briefly directly at it just before sunset. Same reason, low angle equals lots of atmosphere for the light rays to pass through.
If you were shooting with a strobe, you wouldn't usually put it directly over the head of the subject because that would cast a bad shadow. You'd put the strobe to the side and a little higher than the subject to get a nice pleasing affect. If the sun is the light source, when it is off to the side and slightly above the subject ( an hour or so before sunset, or an hour or so after sunrise) you get the most pleasing affect.

[toverman]

+1 on comments above. My answer: it's just prettier. I like evening, too.

[kenw]

and it's not as hot......

but to expand on the above, lower angle sun shooting helps even out shadows under the object. For example, on many of my train shots, the high noon attempts will have a very high contrast and the shadows under the train will be very heavy and dark. I almost always have to boost the shadows to get reasonable results, especially to get any details to show up in those shadows. The stronger light also makes various shadows in other places very noticeable, softer light tends to diffuse them more and softens the contrast overall. On people those harsh shadows show up under chins and eyebrows and make them look unnatural.