Spring has always been a wonderful time of year for landscape photographers in Holland. Throughout much of the area called West Friesland, the once-frozen dark soil is transformed into an explosion of color as thousands of tulips rise from the tulip fields. Throughout much of April, the clouds and sun jockey for position, each claiming victory for only a few seconds at a time, thanks to a constant sharp and biting wind.

As this battle rages overhead, large swaths of sunlight and shadow roll across the landscape, and not surprisingly, stunning landscapes await any photographer. It’s one of those classic lighting situations where no experience is necessary! All you have to do is keep your finger on the shutter release and have a big enough memory card. By the end of the day, you can retire to the cozy confines of your room, fire up the laptop, and enjoy the certainty that on this day you got something really special. Such is the outcome when shooting what I call rolling contrast. Not every image will be a winner, of course. In some shots, the distribution of sunlight and shadow will be off—for example, all light except for one dark corner. But in others the distribution will be perfect: light in two-thirds of the frame, shadow in one-third, or shadow in two-thirds, light in one-third.

If there is any doubt about exposure in these kinds of situations, let there be no mistake: this is time for the Sunny 16 Rule! The Sunny 16 Rule says that any front-lit scene (with the exception of less than 90 minutes before sunset or after sunrise) should be exposed at f/16 with a shutter speed that equals your ISO. For example, if your ISO is 100, your exposure should be f/16 at 1/100 sec. With my 70–300mm lens set at f/16, and my shutter speed at 1/100 sec., I simply fired a number of frames as shadow and sun rolled across this particular landscape. Of the four images shown, my favorite is the last one. I wish every day of shooting were this easy!

All images: Nikon D3X with 70–300mm lens, f/16 for 1/100 sec., ISO 100