Don't Read In The Dark C&C Welcome

[rickabobaloey]

I'm no expert, or really even very knowledgeable about light but I'd think with the information you gave it would still be considered harsh light, not diffused. Even though it's traveling that distance you listed and going through the various layers of atmosphere. It's still a direct light, so it'd be harsher.

 

[OrionsByte]

Sunlight is softer in the golden hours because it's passing through more atmosphere (it's being diffused), not because of the angle.

You're probably going to want to use manual focus for this, because with your camera that close, if you focus and recompose, you're going to shift the focus plane just enough that you're going to miss the effect you want. That's probably why you've been having trouble.