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
Because the sun have been up for like 12 hours prior, so everything around is hotter, the sun light is the same
To clear up a misconception, the morning is going to be cooler than the evening even if the sun is the same brightness. The earth is a giant rock and when you heat a rock up it will stay warm for a while. A rock that’s been sunbathing all day is going to be hotter than a rock that has had a whole night to chill off.
Imagine you have a pot of water on a gas stove, and you gradually crank up the gas until it’s at full blast. Then you gradually crank the gas down until its off. Even though the gas is off, the water will still be warm for some time, because it takes time for the heat to escape.
Most simply put, no matter where you are, the air is likely to be cooler in be morning; meaning that the light, which doesn’t change, travels through a more densely packed atoms that filter or scatter the higher red frequencies of light. In the afternoon, evening, when the air is warmed up, there is more space that allows more of the higher frequencies of light to pass through.
Edit: Longer wavelengths or frequencies of light are blue so there are more
The light is the same, but different things may be going on around YOU.
1. the dew or fog from a cold evening is evaporating in the morning, but is not doing the reverse in the afternoon. You can see this in the extreme in places that have “foggy mornings”, but not foggy afternoons/dusk. That’s gonna affect light, but this impact will be variable depending on where you are.
2. If you live in nature (like I do) you can tell a movie scene shot in nature is being shot in the wrong part of the day because the plant life will be wrongly aligned with the light – lots of things in nature align or hide from the morning light. This will affect the “vibe” of what you’re looking at in ways you may not be conscious of.
3. anything that dissipates in the air at night and accumulates in the day is going to impact things – smog most notably, especially in urban areas.
4. weather patterns move moisture based on accumulated heat which is different at different times of day. This is similar to number 1, but will be very different in different geographies and different alignments to sunrise/sunset.
It is the same temperature and intensity. When shooting a movie you often shoot mornings using evening light, and vice versa, if the schedule requires it. We call it the golden hour.
What difference you see is more influenced by your cultural and social expectations, and your mood, more than actual atmospheric effect.
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