I have always been a fan of using heavy dark’s when it comes to my landscape images. What’s light without dark? That contrast when applied to the natural world can tell pretty compelling stories. Now granted I shoot a lot at sunrise and sunset when these two forces meet with the most drama but regardless having that little pop of light just peeking out can make for some very meaningful scenery.
Rim light isn’t just used with people it can be used in landscapes. In these examples the only light that is coming through is a little bit from between the clouds layers just moments before the sun sets. Normally to capture you would either do an HDR to capture all that detail between the lights and dark’s or underexpose as to not have any blown out highlights. Obviously I went with underexposing. Why? Well the whole day was dark, clouds kept the sun away until these shafts popped through so why not express that.
Using the D4 and 70-200 VRII, the last bit of light brought a little warmth to the otherwise cold winter day. The subject in both of these images is truly the light and that’s all that really matters.