The time of day

In all books and articles about nature photography you can read about the importance of the time of day. Generally, the best time to photograph landscapes is in the early morning and the late afternoon. The low angle of the sun makes nice long shadows and the light is not as harsh as it can be during mid day. There are exceptions however. In order to see a rainbow over a waterfall, the sun normally needs to be a little higher up in the sky, which means you have to shoot waterfalls later in the morning or earlier in the afternoon. The first picture of Lower Yellowstone Falls was taken at 18.07 hours (6.07 PM for Americans), so that is a classic example of shooting late in the afternoon. The second picture was taken at 09.37 hours (9.37 AM), because that’s about the earliest time you can see the rainbow over these falls. Very early in the morning you simply can’t take this picture because the sun is not high enough for a rainbow to appear.