Lighting moods and atmospheres vary tremendously depending on the situation you shoot in. It can be as simple as choosing different times of the day in order to effect a change using the light characteristics that are present at that time.
Morning:
Pictures taken in early morning often contain soft, gentle shadows where the sun has not yet penetrated, coupled with delicately warm highlights wherever prominent features can be seen.
Afternoon:
In late afternoon, the sun in sinking lower in the sky and subject shadows start to lengthen and deepen. Where the light does strike, however, you tend to see a rosy warmth unlike other times of the day.
Sunset:
At sunset the light from the sun is forced to travel through a great volume of atmosphere, where only the fantastic orange and red wavelengths can penetrate.
That is why sunset photos are often cast in coppery hues of yellow/orange/red.
~Captions from John Hedgecoe's Photography Basics ~Images from www.123RF.com
Step-By-Step Learning:
Free Online Lesson: Digital Photography and Lighting
Check out this great little online resource on Lighting with Digital Photography from GCFLearnFree.org
Improve Your Photos: Lighting
If you are tired of reading long explanations and confused by tricky photo techniques, here you can have it short and sweet. Arranged by topics, each subject takes less than 60 seconds to read.