Every photographer or selfie connoisseur knows the importance and beauty of the golden hour. However, there is still a few who don’t fully understand the hype over this phenomena. Golden hour is a natural occurrence that happens daily during sunrise and sunset. This is characterized by a gold sky (hence, the golden hour). It’s the hour before sunrise and the hour before sunset. During golden hour the sun is right above the horizon, which is perfect conditions to snap a picture. Why? Let me tell you…
Because of the sun’s position in the sky during the golden hour, everything is evenly lit. If a person was to snap a selfie during the golden hour they might notice that their skin glows and eyes glitter, but what they may not notice is the lack of SHADOWS. Yes, shadows. Shadows have the potential to make or break a picture. Sometimes they're fun to work with but when you want that perfect picture your shadows have to be in the right place at the right time.
When it comes to natural light portraits, the ideal time to shoot is golden hour and shadows are the reason why. Because of the sun’s position in the sky shadows are cast to the back of the subject. This makes for clear, well defined and almost perfect pictures. If you ever want to know how drastic shadows can change your picture try taking a picture at golden hour and another one at 12 noon and compare them; that’ll give you the answer.
Below are some of my favorite golden hour shots:
Below are some pictures taken outside of golden hour (notice the shadows):
