P#6: The Baha'i Temple in New Delhi at Twilight

Contrasting the temple lights with the sky in New Delhi

Jim Zuckerman: The next photograph that I sent you, photo 11705, is a spectacular temple in New Delhi, India.

I was there last year and I really wanted to shoot this at twilight but I just got there too late, and it just didn't work. Then I had to leave.

I went back last March and this was very high on my priority list.

(11705) The temple actually closes just around sunset and I asked permission if I could stay a little longer to shoot it at twilight. The director of the temple was gracious enough to allow me to do that. This is such a magnificent example of modern and creative architecture. (click the image for a larger version)

This is actually the Baha'i Temple. The Baha'i faith is persecuted in Iran, so they feel safe in India.

They built this spectacular template that is visited by about 10,000 people a day. It's very pretty in the daylight and at sunset and all those times, but it's very special at twilight.

Audri Lanford: The contrast between the temple and the sky is just spectacular.

Jim Zuckerman: That's what makes twilight photography so good, it's exactly that, the contrast between the lights and the sky.

This was not a clear sky. It was very hazy, but like I said, it doesn't matter.

The whole point is that when you're photographing at the right time of day, that sky, no matter what's going on there, it is going to go cobalt blue.

To summarize

Try to capture the cobalt blue of the sky at twilight when you photograph, as in the picture of the Baha'i Temple in New Delhi.