Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday! Ashley of Ramblings and Photos and I will be bringing you a new challenge every week, to stretch your shooting and editing skills. This week I am talking about the coveted “Golden Hour”. I wanted to share some of my favorite golden hour tips.
We all have heard about the Golden Hour but when is the golden hour? I use an app on my phone called Magic Hour. It tells you the golden hour for sunrise and sunset. I like looking at it to know the best time for photos. The black is where it shows your location, just so you know. It will tell you the best time for golden hour where you are. You can also check it online at The Golden Hour.
I try and schedule most of my photography session about 30 minutes to an hour before golden hour. That way you have some good light and then you will have some golden light. You get a variety of images that way.
Golden Hour Tips:
If you are shooting directly into the sun, and you can see it in your frame it will blow out everything. The best thing you want to do is block the the sun either with the person you are taking the photo of or by keeping the sun out of the frame all together.
The photo below is SOOC (straight out of camera). I got down on the ground and took it. The sun is mostly out of the frame. You still get that nice hazy look but it isn’t all blown out. I did end up getting all itchy to take the photo but it was worth it. I love that one sprig of grass and the purple glow.
Another tip is you want to turn off Auto White Balance and use the sun or daylight settings. If you use auto it will try and cool down your image and you won’t get that “golden” glow.
Even during the golden hour you may not get the right coloring and exposure but you can’t pass up a good photo like the one below. ADORABLE! So when all else fails use editing. I used some actions from Pure Actions called Pure Haze Collection. I also used some sun flare actions from MCP Fusion Actions.
The light during Golden Hour changes very quickly!! So shoot as quickly as possible, take as many photos as you can. Have fun and I can not wait to see your Golden Hour photos!!
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