The term golden hour refers to a time of opportunity for a photographer. To be more specific, is the period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset. During this time, the daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky.
Photographers will often called this period “magical hour”, due to the perfect light it gives to capture stunning photos. During this time the brightness of the sky matches the brightness form the background streetlights, signs, car headlights and lit windows. It last a mere twenty to thirty minutes.
What is the Golden Hour?
Golden hour is a short window of time right after sunrise and again right before sunset when the skies are filled with a short hue of lustrous gold. This phenomenal time is the perfect haven for all photographers when they can take the perfect landscape or portrait.
In an essence, golden hour is the result of a light diffusion. The sun is low in the sky and the blue light diffuses more and more as hours pass by. During the golden hour, long shadows will fill the skyline due to the sun sinking into the distant background while contrasting the skies.
The golden hour is a time of opportunity for not only photographers but also for cinematographers and filmmakers.
When is the Golden Hour?
The golden hour varies from one place to the other. It also depends on the weather and cloud foliage. To check the golden hour time for a specific place, you could check the internet or find the local times for both sunrise and sunset.
Typically the golden hour lies between fifteen to thirty minutes. However, the time too could vary. For instance, countries nearing the latitudes tend to have far more timing of golden hour compared to other countries.
Tips for the Golden Hour
Only knowing about the time of the Golden award will not benefit you as a photographer. You would need to prepare for a lot of things and known which angle would be best to shoot from. Some of the tips that photographers could follow are:
Plan Ahead: Golden hour is an opportunity that would be easy to miss. Therefore you must make some prior arrangements. Since you are short on time, it would be appropriate to find and mark your shooting location from beforehand. You should get to the location early and set up the camera before the golden hour starts. When you find the window of opportunity, capture the photographs without any hesitation.
Wide aperture for portraits: Most people prefer to use the warm golden hue when taking photos of the golden hour. The light is complimented to be the most flattering natural light for portrait photography. However, some minor adjustments need to be made to the camera in case of portrait photographs. If you are new to photography put your camera into Aperture Priority mode. This mode ill activate the auto ISO choosing option. When you take photographs, the camera will determine the best shutter speed for you. If you are still unhappy with this setting, some minor tweaks are needed in the exposure adjustment dial.
Take Lots of photographs: The light during the golden hour chances every second. Human reaction time cannot keep up with this change so you should shoot more frames each second. Since you have more photographs you will have more options to work with.
Blue Hour: People will often call the blue hour as the golden hour’s sister. The blue hour is an even briefer window of time that comes after the end of the golden hour. Just like the golden hour, photographers treat the blue hour as another phenomenal opportunity to take photographs. During the blue hour the skies become a mixture of bluish and orange hue in the horizon. It slowly transitions to a cooler and calmer color. The sky manages to reflect this transition perfectly.
Lighting types during the Golden hour
Finding the right lighting is important when it comes to any sort of photography. Proper lighting provides the balance between the background and subject being photographed. Besides different types of light will have different effects on your photograph giving them various view points.
Front Lighting: As the name suggests refers to the lighting that comes directly from the front. During golden hour, the subject will be photographed while facing the sun. The subject will be lit with a warm, flattering, and even natural light.
Back Lighting: Back lighting is the exact opposite of front lighting. Here the subject poses in front of the sun, while their back faces the sun. The major problem with this style is that you might need to increase the exposure to keep your subject visible. Since the subject will cover the sun’s light, the shadow might fall on the subject. To tackle this problem you could fill your subject with a Speedlight or reflector.
Rim/ Edge Lighting: Rim Lighting is similar to back lighting style. However, the picture is taken from one side of the subject with a little exposure to keep the shadows minimized. This is a great fit for photographs that capture a person’s hair or the edges of a flower, gently lit by the sun.
Flare: A flare is a style of photography that is achieved when the sunlight falls on the camera lens. During the golden hour, the hue could be used to add an extra visual effect on the photograph. Flares could be used to make the photo more dramatic. Repositioning the subject can be used to partially block the sun.
Conclusion
The gorgeous, warm golden hour light is perfect to achieve all states of photographs. As a matter of fact some professional photographers only book out-door photo sessions during the golden hour times. A lot of creative skills and techniques could be used along with the golden hue of the time period to enhance the attractiveness of the photograph.
