The Golden Hour of Photography
The “Golden Hour” in photography refers to the best times of day for shooting. The golden hours are approximately one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset. However, depending upon your location and time of year, this can be longer or shorter.
The golden hour produces a softer and more flattering light, which works great as a backdrop for any style of photography. Many photographers prefer the feel this light produces, as it can create incredible-looking landscapes as well as surreal-looking portraits or couples’ photos.
The golden hour is so important, that some photographers have an application in their phones to get specific information related to the sun’s position and its effect for lighting at any given moment, in any given place, year round. These apps range in a variety of prices, however, you can find a good amount of information for free online by using a search engine to look up sunrise and sunset times for your area.
If it’s too sunny during the daytime, the lighting is going to be harsh on the subject. The brightness from the sun may exaggerate shadows and make skin blemishes look more noticeable. The soft light of the golden hour makes the skin look more rich, balanced in tone, comfortable, and may produce a dream-like effect. Once you notice the difference in your photography, you will find yourself working your schedule around the golden hours.
Different poses with a subject can be used to fully utilize the effects of the golden hour’s light. If you pose a subject with the sun setting behind the subject, you can create an aura around the subject while a soft light illuminates the focused area you are photographing. If you back farther away from the subject, the sunlight of the golden hour will cause the subject to turn into a silhouette – which brings a great look to certain styles of photos.
The soft light allows the subject to also look towards the sun without as much difficulty - however, use this sparingly, as you don’t want to hurt their eyes. The effect of looking at the sun cast all shadows backwards. The soft glow completely illuminates the subject and their skin looks balanced and soft. Eyes lit up by the soft sun produce a beautiful glow that will make your images pop out. The eyes are often the most important part of focus with portrait photography.
Enjoy the benefits of the golden hours; you will love the photos you create. For more reading into creating professional and crisp looking photos, read: Advice on Using Lightroom or Photoshop.
