Romance in the Countryside
Golden Hour
A very well-known term for photographers. And also a popular term. That is also the case for me. Photos taken in the golden hour already have a special atmospheric appearance of themselves, without you having to do much about it. If shot well, of course. And the latter does not happen automatically. Because with the Golden Hour there are a number of things that you as a photographer should pay attention to.
Here are some tips for photographing during Golden Hour.
The first tip might be to kick the open door, too obvious ... or just something you wouldn't have thought about. But it is THE most important tip of all!
MAKE SURE YOU'RE THERE!
Yes, make sure you are at the location where you want to shoot. The Golden Hour takes no hour at all. It's the brief moment just AFTER the sunrise, and the brief moment just BEFORE the sunset. It is also called the “Magic Hour”, and as far as I am concerned that is certainly allowed. But to capture this brief moment, it is simply very important that you are already there where you want to shoot, that you have everything ready and that you already know how you want to take your photo. The most beautiful golden light has disappeared very quickly, and it would be a shame if you miss it because you were not ready for it yet. However? To make sure you are always on time, there are various apps that you can download in which you can see the exact times at each location. Some of these apps are, for example, “Magic Hour” (app store) and Photographer's Ephemeris (the latter the app is not free, but the desktop version is).
The next tip I can give is in line with the previous one.
PREPARE EARLY.
This again because the most beautiful golden light is only present for such a short time, and if you still have to do everything to be able to take that one photo. Then sorry, but then you are really TOO late.
Another tip I can give, but one that I don't use very often myself, is
SET YOUR WHITE BALANCE IN YOUR CAMERA.
This is an absolute necessity if you shoot in JPEG. If you shoot in RAW, you can easily adjust this afterwards. The advantage of doing it immediately is that you immediately see an image with the correct colors on your camera and that you naturally have less work on it later. Photographing in RAW gives you the great advantage that you can edit all aspects of a photo much better without loss of quality.
Then another tip that ties in with this:
SET YOUR EXPOSURE CORRECTLY.
Because it all seems very easy ... but it is not that easy. You want detail in the shadows, but you also want to be able to see detail in the light parts of your photo. And those two collide. A simple trick you can use here is to set spot metering on your camera and aim it at the shadows, you set the values that your camera indicates. And then you underexpose that 1 stop. You do that one stop of underexposure because your camera is set to 18% gray by default, so it always wants to make the dark parts lighter, but he always wants to make the light parts darker. This is explained very simply, of course, the technology is much more advanced, but that really goes too far to explain all that now.
The most important thing for Golden Hour photography is of course the 'golden light', so make sure that the 'golden light' looks fantastic in your photo, by combining the right white balance, and the right exposure in both the light and dark parts still show sufficient detail.
With these few simple tips that everyone can implement, I hope I have made it easier for you to also take beautiful photos at one of the most beautiful moments of the day.
The Golden Hour.
And herewith I also immediately posted my entry for the new Qurator Photoquest, because it has the theme “Golden Hour” this week.
I will get more time again
Unfortunately I missed last week because I had other things on my mind. Fortunately, the dogs have calmed down here at home. It seems that Lana's heat has come to an end, and the young Skipper can control his hormones better again. In addition, of course we have been outside a lot with the warm weather of the past few days and I did not have that much time to sit behind my PC. And we all became very drowsy from the heat, so I had no energy at all to take an original photo for the previous theme. But as always, new round, new opportunities. Success for anyone who wants to participate. And if you are reading this and did not know that there is a contest from Qurator every week? Check out this week's blog in the qurator photoquest link above, in where this weeks theme announcement and last time winners.
I like this photo, @Hetty-Rowan, the golden backlit couple looks great.
I shoot in RAW, so anything is possible in post, but your tips are very good and essential for everyone who photographs in JPEG. Thanks for your beautiful post and good luck in the competition 😊
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Thank you @johannpiber. That's a great compliment which I appreciate very much. I shoot in RAW too, but I know that many people who are starting with photography don't do that ... and besides that. Even if you do shoot in RAW it's always a good thing to know your techniques. The better your photo is right away, the less you have to work on your editing process. And that can save you a lot of time, right?
You're very welcome @hetty-rowan 😁
Of course you are right and I always try to have the right settings just for the reasons of less work at the computer later, and no clipping whites or blacks.
Cheers and !BEER
I know you do ... 👍
Now I thank you 😊
Cheers and !BEER
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Brilliant soft glow photography along with some lovely tips to assist, unfortunately pocket camera does not use RAW so relying on tips to further knowledge always helps.
Miss the old camera, unfortunately camera doctor did not do a successful repair at all.
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