Golden Hour – A truly magical hour to get the best of best photos

The majority of landscape photographs that are recorded during the hours of first light or dusk/late in the evening are referred to as the golden hours to seem wow. The golden hours occur twice a day, at dawn and dusk. This allows photographers to shoot photographs in the supposedly best light of the day. You may simply obtain the timings for a certain area by going online or using applications.

Sunset during Golden Hours

In order to capture the spectacular colors in the sky during the golden hours, you might want to do a bit of homework before your actual work begins.

Research on Golden hour timings

What is the best time to take photos? First, consider the golden hours. This is determined by your geographical location and the time of year. When you get closer to the equator, the time virtually stays the same all year, with a slight change of around an hour in different seasons.

However, when you go closer to the north pole, there are spots where there is sunshine 24 hours a day, or where it is absolutely dark all the time. However, in these settings, the sun will never be at its height, such as at noon, and will remain just over the horizon. In such instances, you may experience golden hours all day or for a considerably longer period of time. So make the most of it.

Get familiar with the location

Following the golden hour timings is the location; it’s a good idea to tour the area during the daytime so that you can choose the best spot to take photographs and also prepare yourself for composing the image.

You may look at photographs taken by other photographers on the internet to see how amazing they are and how you can avoid shooting a very similar type of shot. Look for photographs that were taken throughout the day as well as during golden hours to get a sense of what to expect.

NITK Beach golden hours

Getting ready for golden hours

Once you’ve done your homework to take photographs during golden hours, make sure you arrive at the place at least an hour or 30 minutes early and have your camera, tripod, and any other camera settings ready. Don’t be a slacker when it comes to getting up early in the morning.

How is golden hour calculated?

Now that you have everything set up, see whether you can take photographs in diffused light. The sun provides diffused light when it is low in the sky (during golden hours). Is golden hour before or after sunset? The vivid orange/multicolored sky may add contrast and colour to your photograph. You may also see blue or purple sky during the twilight hours before or after sunrise or sunset. Twilight lasts only a few minutes, perhaps 30 minutes, and occurs twice a day, with the timings changing over the year. When the sun gets very near to the horizon, this happens.

Gear for golden hour photography

In terms of equipment, you’ll need a camera body with a wide-angle lens for landscape photography and a robust tripod if you’re shooting in low light. You could choose to shoot photographs with a higher ISO and a smaller aperture (a bit wide open). You might use a slower shutter speed to obtain a cloud movement effect in the photograph. I would recommend utilizing lenses with an aperture of f2.8 or lower so that you can maintain the aperture wide open while keeping the ISO as low as possible.

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