generate a golden hour for the best photographic light.
On assignment, people often ask me what times during the day are best for photography. I have the same answer repeatedly - dawn, dusk, and noon. Noon? Definitely, as sometimes when the light is brightest and highest you can capitalize on some stark light - especially in places like South Florida where I used to work. Dawn and dusk, however, are literally the “Golden Hour” standard for me around the world, because the light is soft, directional, and beautiful. Even “Blue Hour,” the precious time following sunset and precipitating sunrise, offers up some amazing opportunities. I religiously follow blue and golden light, and will often go to extraordinary lengths to photograph during those times. Not sure what all this means? Let’s break it down.
“Golden Hour” typically means the time before sunset or after sunrise when the sun is at the lowest in the sky, the color is warmest, and the shadows are the longest. As I said above, “Blue Hour” is the time precipitating a sunrise or following a sunset, when the sky has tinges of royal blues. Here is a good example of a mix between “Blue Hour” and “Golden Hour.”
The convergence of blue hour/golden hour at sunrise last week in Granite City, Illinois.
Would you like to know exactly when the best times are to photograph? Like the Apple ad says, there’s an app for that…well, actually, there’s a calculator for that, thanks to “techno-queen” Amanda Emily, who built and incorporated a “Blue Hour/Golden Hour” calculator on her website complete with monthly tables of “good light” down to the minute. Thanks to Cyndy Green of Video Journalism for the link. Now, you will only have the weather as an excuse why you couldn’t shoot at the perfect time of day. And, if I could get the editors to start planning outdoor assignments using this new calculator, then we’ll be working it like National Geographic photographers!
Learn more about the history of PICTURES
Erik, that is so true. We need to always try to make photos at the time the best photos can be made. And sometimes that really is at noon.
Back when I was at NGS I had the good fortune to collaborate with producer Mary Kushan on a project involving photography done by Bill Allard, a true genius with a 35mm camera. Bill offered us some insightful comments on his approach to documentary photography, and Mary built the multimedia module around these ideas. This quote cuts to the heart of the point he was making:
“Sometimes the light’s there but the picture isn’t. It’s not just a matter of good light; there is no such thing as bad light. It’s knowing how to use the light that’s available. You know the old thing about getting up early in the morning and late in the afternoon? Well that’s great for fishing, hunting, and photography to a degree, but if you really know your craft or your art, you better be able to work at high noon as well. There’s wonderful things to be done.”
William Albert Allard
from the multi-image show “High Noon,” produced by Mary Kushan.
And he is right — there are great moments waiting to be captured in great light, but there are great moments waiting to be captured at noon. Our challenge is to capture them in compelling ways, regardless of the time of day.
For folks not familiar with Bill’s work, here are a couple of good links:
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-william-allard.html
http://davidalanharvey.typepad.com/familyfriends/2007/05/bill.html
http://www.nationalgeographicassignment.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&a=0&p=2&at=0
Thought your readers might enjoy the following…link to a story I shot during the “Blue Hour” last year. A American Cancer Society “Relay for Life” event, which went on for 24 hours. I chose to shoot right at dusk so the lit candles would show as well as details of people walking by. Too much light and the candles would lose their punch. Too little light and you couldn’t see the event. I most definitely did not want to use supplemental lights which might have destroyed the mood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzdagGbV5hE
Even at noon, you can do quite a bit with some creativity (as you mention) - using gobos, small flashes with appropriate lighting ratios, and half a brain can turn an otherwise dull situation into something even better than sunset!
Thanks for this post - my favorite time to shoot is dusk, and there are so many rapidly-changing and varied backdrops if you shoot portraits at that time!