Like let’s assume 10am and 6pm are the same relative angles of sun in the sky- why isn’t the lighting identical warmth in photos?
In: Physics
The sun warms the earth, the earth warms you. The direct sunlight only changes that a little bit.
In the morning, the earth has cooled for 10 hours but in the evening it has warmed for 10 hours.
That’s also why it’s way colder at 5AM than at 1AM despite both being without sun.
Angle isn’t everything. The answer is a difference in atmospheric conditions. Mornings tend to be more…moist. There’s more moisture in the air so the light refracts differently. Add to that the change in temperature. Mornings go from cool to warm. Evenings go from warm to cool.
Temperature DOES effect color surprisingly, on a small scale:
“We frequently get calls from customers who can’t figure out why their measurements vary, even when they’re using maintained devices. Why would a sample read one way one day, then slightly different another? Many times the culprit is thermochromaticity, and it becomes an even bigger problem as the seasons change.
Every kind of material changes color with temperature. These changes cause the material to exhibit a shift in reflected wavelengths of light, which can alter our perception. Often the color shift is so slight the naked eye would never notice. But if your job is to quality check color critical products, you need to fully understand how thermochromaticity can impact your color, your measurements, and your ability to pass inspection.” (see source here: [https://www.xrite.com/blog/temperature-affects-color-measurements](https://www.xrite.com/blog/temperature-affects-color-measurements) )
Now the difference isn’t much, but there IS a difference.
However, in film, some of the scenes you think are sunset scenes are actually sunrise scenes and vice versa.
So some reasons why:
1. Moisture in the air/atmosphere.
2. A higher number of pollutants present in the air at night.
3. Your own expectations coloring the scene.
4. Actual differences in perceived color (when measured by a spectrometer) due to temperature, though these are negligible.
Wait, I’m not the only one who can tell morning from sunset in movies and photographs? There’s goes my only superpower.
I think this is only true on the west coast, because east coast morning light is harsh af.
Reason being, the sun has had time to burn off morning haze on the east coast before it gets to land, whereas on the west coast the ocean moisture gets sucked towards the land due to heating land mass and rising air currents.
Radiation. Short wave radiation has not yet had a chance to warm up our rock yet in the morning. This is the also the same radiation that will give you a sunburn or a tan. In the evening the short wave radiation has disappated and heated up our rock. We’re left with only long wave radiation. So the sunlight is literally different at sunset.
Where are you that solar noon happens at 2pm, by the way?
10am and 6pm is definitely not the same angle.. far from it.
10am and 2pm would be closer.
did anyone mention that the redder light in the afternoon is likely due to more dust being kicked up into the atmosphere as humans go about their daytime, as opposed to nighttime business? then in the cool of the night, the dust settles, the sky color cools relatively
I searched for this once and the answer was Rayleigh Scattering. The same factor that affects the color of the sky in the morning and evening also affects the way light looks at 10am versus 3pm.
The “white” light we get from the sun is actually composed of lots of different colors (like a rainbow). When light rays bend via refraction, the different colors bend differently. When the sun appears closer to the horizon (morning near sunrise, evening near sunset), more orange-red colored light reaches the surface of the Earth (and any clouds/dust/aerosols hanging in the air near the surface).
So that’s the source of reddish/warmer light. How much of that warmer light reaches your eyes depends in large part on how much dust/cloud/aerosol cover there is for that light to bounce off of and reflect back down to the ground. In many places, much of that dust/cloud/aerosol cover comes in large part from activity that occurs during the day (car exhaust fumes, industrial output, etc.). When that activity cease (or slows) at the end of the day, it dissipates. Therefore, in the morning there are fewer particulates in the air to reflect the red light.
As a result sunsets are generally a more spectacular red/orange than sunrises.
See also [Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-smog-creates-beautiful-sunsets/).
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