Golden Hour Photography: 11 Tips for Your Photoshoot

Have you ever thought of why some photographs look warm, dreamy, and almost magical? The secret or answer for this is often the light. An ordinary photograph turns into something special due to many reasons like a beautiful sunset, a soft golden glow on someone’s face, or sunlight passing through the trees.

You can call it golden hour photography that makes a difference. It helps photographers in capturing beautiful colours, soft shadows, and natural-looking portraits without needing expensive lighting equipment.

The golden hour opportunity if learned about helps photographers being a beginner, a wedding photographer, a travel photographer or someone who enjoys taking pictures with a smartphone improve the results.

In this article, we will deep dive into what is golden hour photography, when to plan your photoshoot and 11 simple tips that will include how to capture stunning pictures. Let’s start now!

What Is Golden Hour Photography?

What is golden hour photography? It is a way of taking pictures during the period shortly after sunrise or before sunset meaning at this time, sunlight looks warm, soft and golden.

At this time, the sun sits low in the sky. Its light travels through more of the atmosphere, which changes its colour and reduces the harshness often seen around midday. Due to this, there creates a beautiful glow that works well for landscapes, portraits, wedding photos, and outdoor photography.

Among several advantages, one of the biggest advantages of golden hour photography is that it gives a natural, warm look to the photos. The light during the golden hour makes the skin tones appear soft, and gives depth to landscapes, as well as create long shadows due to which photographs look more interesting.

For example, try taking a couple’s photograph in an open field just before sunset. The sunlight gently lights the hair of the persons in the photographs, the background glows, and the entire scene looks to be felt romantic. You can apply this effect if you choose the right location and use the available light creatively.

Golden hour photography allows you to capture the photos without using a professional camera. A mirrorless camera, DSLR or smartphone can all capture beautiful golden-hour images with the perfect approach.

When Is Golden Hour Photography?

You have understood what golden hour photography is. Now you should understand about when golden hour photography is so that you can get the best results.

You should know golden hour usually appears two times a day:

• Morning golden hour: Shortly after sunrise.
• Evening golden hour: Shortly before sunset.

In golden hour photography, the golden hour also depends on the location, season, weather, and the position of the sun. The name has “hour” in it, but it does not always last exactly 60 minutes. 

For golden hour for photography, you need to check your local sunrise and sunset times using a weather service or a sun-tracking app. Also, you should pan to arrive 20-30 minutes before at the location i.e before your intended shooting window so that you can get enough time to prepare.

To leverage the best effect of golden hour photography, morning sessions are considered to be excellent for landscapes, fresh outdoor scenes, and locations with fewer people. On the other hand, evening sessions are popular for portraits, engagement shoots, weddings, and family photographs.

If there is a need to get warm, romantic images, evening light may be your first choice. However, morning sessions can also be important, especially when you want a calm and natural atmosphere.

11 Golden Hour Photography Tips for Your Next Photoshoot

1. Plan Your Photoshoot in Advance

Good photography often begins before you take your camera in your hand. Golden-hour light changes quickly, so there is a need to plan ahead that will help you make the most of your time.

You need to start by choosing a location. For this, you need to look for open fields, beaches, parks, rooftops, or streets with interesting backgrounds. Also, think about where the sun will appear and how its light is going to fall on your subject.

You have to visit the location beforehand and check for distracting objects, crowded areas, and suitable places to position your subject.

Another thing is you need to prepare your camera, batteries, memory cards, and lenses before leaving. If you have decided to use a smartphone, you need to clean the camera lens and make sure you have enough storage.

2. Choose the Right Time for Your Shoot

In golden hour photography, timing plays a major role. In the case you arrive late, it may leave you with only a few minutes to capture the light you want.

You have to check the local sunset or sunrise time before your session. Also, you need to remember that buildings, mountains, trees, and other obstacles can block direct sunlight earlier than expected.

Try to begin shooting before the light becomes perfect. You can use the early part of the session to capture pictures in open shade or with side lighting. As the sun gets lower, experiment with backlighting and silhouettes.

Keep taking photographs as the light changes. A scene that looks ordinary at the beginning may become much more beautiful a few minutes later.

If clouds cover the sun, do not cancel your plans immediately. Thin clouds can soften the light and create an attractive, diffused effect. Heavy clouds may reduce the golden glow, but you can still capture interesting images.

3. Capture a Stunning Effect Using Backlighting

Using backlighting is the most common way of shooting during the golden hour photography.

The principle of backlighting consists in positioning your subject in between the camera and the sun so that the light comes through from behind your subject, giving the latter a glowing contour of the hair, shoulders, or clothes.

Backlighting can be especially helpful in portrait photography, wedding photography, and couples’ photo sessions.

The only problem with using backlighting is that sometimes the face of your subject may become dark due to the brightness of the sky.

In order to solve this problem, you should regulate the exposure so that the face was visible. Also, it is possible to use a reflector in order to throw some sunlight on the face. If needed, you should move your subject a little bit so that the sun becomes invisible behind his head or shoulder.

4. Experiment With Side Lighting

It is not mandatory to put the sun behind your object all the time. Side lighting is another great option for making good pictures.

For this lighting trick, make sure that your subject has sunlight coming from one side of his/her face/body. Shadows formed by the light will give more texture and dimension to your picture.

This lighting is particularly helpful in creating portrait pictures, fashion pictures, and also landscape pictures that include some details.

Change your position around the object and see how light changes when you move. Just a slight movement can provide you with a completely different outcome.

If you want to practice golden hour photography, then take one picture using front lighting, second one using side lighting, and third one using backlighting.

5. Learn to Use the Right Camera Settings

Camera settings can enable you to manipulate how much detail, color, and light there will be in your photographs.

Use the following general settings and adjust them depending on lighting conditions and the type of photo you are taking.

Aperture: If you are taking portrait photos with a blurred background, use a wide aperture (such as f/1.8-f/4). Landscape photos usually require an aperture of f/8-f/11.

ISO: Start from low ISOs (100 or 200) in well-lit conditions. Raise it as needed as soon as the sun goes down.

Shutter speed: Use fast shutter speed in order to capture moving objects sharp. If you are shooting children or a couple strolling or some animals moving around, use faster shutter speed.

White Balance: Use Daylight or Cloudy settings in order to preserve warm colors of the picture.

RAW file: Take photos in RAW file type (if possible on your camera). This will give you much more opportunity to edit exposure and colors of the picture.

If you are using a smartphone, tap your subject on the screen to focus and adjust the exposure slider when needed. Avoid excessive digital zoom because it can reduce image quality.

6. Pay Attention to Your Camera Angle

The camera position can completely change the mood of your photos. The camera position affects the background, appearance of the object of your picture, and lighting.

Thus, the slightly lowered position of the camera can highlight the person on the colorful background of the sky. The camera position will allow you to add tall grass and flowers to the picture.

In addition, the elevated camera position will suit for taking the family portraits, the pictures of picnics and people sitting in the field.

Moreover, you can use the low position of the camera to take the photo of the sunlight filtering through the grass or flowers. It will produce a blurring effect in the foreground.

Try not to stick to only one camera position in the whole process of photographing. Experiment with positions of the camera, move it left, right, up and down.

Use some composition techniques such as the rule of thirds, leading lines and natural frames like tree branches. It is enough for good composition.

7. Capture Silhouettes for Dramatic Results

Wish to have an emotional and artistic photo shot? Capture silhouettes while the sun is setting.

A silhouette is made when the subject is darker compared to the bright background. Sunset golden hour is perfect for silhouetting because the sky offers an array of colors such as orange, yellow, pink, and red.

Let your subject stand against the brightest area of the sky. Make sure the silhouette of the body is distinguishable. Couples’ photos could be taken by having them hold hands, walk, or lean on each other.

In order to get an effective photo, it is better to expose the bright sky instead of lighting up the person in the photo. This will help keep the colorful background but make the subject dark.

Avoid complicated poses, and look for clear shapes with minimal overlapping of hands, legs, or faces.

Silhouettes are great for travel, beach, and landscape photos as well.

8. Make the Most of Lens Flare

Lens flare is when strong light comes into your camera’s lens and causes bright streaks, circles, or haze in your photograph.

Some photographers attempt to avoid lens flares, but others like to use them for artistic effect. In golden hour photography, a bit of lens flare can add warmth, dreaminess, and cinematic quality to an image.

To practice, direct your camera at the sun and move around in such a way that the light hits your lens in a way that looks nice. You can also put the sun behind a tree, a building, or even your model.

In case you don’t want excessive lens flare as it can decrease contrast and hide essential details, you can place your camera in a certain way or put on a lens hood.

Capture several pictures in slightly different angles and select either a clear photo or the one that has a glow.

9. Use Natural Backgrounds and Reflections

The background is just as important as your subject. You will not be able to salvage a good photo of a beautiful sunset with a distracting background.

Try shooting against a simple background like the sky, distant hills, beaches, trees, or well-lit buildings. Ensure that there are no poles or branches growing out of your subject’s head.

Reflections may also add more depth to your pictures. The puddles, lakes, rivers, and wet roads may reflect the colors of the sky.

For instance, you can take a picture of a couple beside a lake and add their reflections in the picture. You can also use the wet road to capture the golden light of buildings and cars.

Remember to include foreground, middle ground, and background in your picture. Combining all these will help you create a 3D view of a landscape.

These tips are helpful when shooting using a professional camera as well as a smartphone.

10. Try Sunset Cinematography for Video Shoots

It is important to remember that golden hour light does not only apply to still photography. It is also highly useful in film-making and video production.

Sunset cinematography uses the warm light that the sun produces at sunset in order to convey a certain atmosphere. This kind of light is capable of conveying romance, tranquillity, nostalgia, or even drama.

In case you are shooting a wedding film, a travel vlog, a promotional video, or a short cinematic video, try shooting your object moving against the backdrop of warm light. Close-ups, slow movements, and wide landscapes can be captured in the process.

While doing a video, it is important to maintain constant exposure and white balance between shots. Sudden changes in the brightness and colour may spoil the final video.

It is also important to pay attention to your frame rate and shutter speed. A reasonable start would be using the shutter speed that is about twice the frame rate. 

If the light gets darker, do not forget to use a tripod or stabilizer.

Once the sun has set, stay for a little longer. The sky may turn blue, creating a different atmosphere for your final shots.

11. Edit Your Photos Without Losing Their Natural Beauty

Editing will enable you to bring out the best from your photographs; however, the purpose should be to improve the photograph without making it appear artificial.

Begin with fixing exposure, contrast, highlights, and shadows. When the face of your subject appears too dark, you can slightly lift the shadows. If the sky looks too bright, you should lower the highlights, provided that sufficient detail has been captured.

You should then fix the white balance for managing the warmth. It is possible to increase the warmth in small amounts to enhance the golden hues, while increased warmth can result in unnatural looking skin.

You can also change saturation, vibrancy, and colors to make the sunset look outstanding. Avoid exaggerating skin tone and don’t add too much clarity or sharpness in portraiture.

Shooting in RAW gives you more room to recover highlights and shadows.

Tools like Lightroom and other photo editing software programs will help you develop your own style.

Remember that every image is different. Use editing to support the mood of the photograph rather than applying the same settings blindly to every picture.

Final Thoughts

Golden Hour Photography can be easily mastered by any photographer as one of the easiest methods of making photos more professional and beautiful.

No special skills or expensive photographic equipment are needed. The only thing you have to do is to plan your photoshoot, arrive in advance, use different angles of camera placement and learn to take photos using backlighting and creating silhouettes.

The most important thing here is practice. Make several photos using the changing light, compare the photos and see which way fits your shooting style.

It will help you create unique and interesting photo series out of an ordinary photoshoot.