What is golden hour

The Golden Hour – When Sunlight Turns Magical

When the Sun is close to the horizon on a sunny day, its light appears warmer and softer. This makes the golden hour, also known as the magical hour, popular with photographers and filmmakers.

A golden retriever enjoys the golden hour on a beach in Vietnam. The warm sunlight makes the golden hour a favorite among photographers and filmmakers.

Definition of the Golden Hour

Because the golden hour is a colloquial term, it doesn’t have an official definition similar to dawn, dusk, and the 3 phases of twilight. Rather, it refers to a state of natural lighting that is most common around sunrise and sunset.

However, the warm sunlight that is characteristic for the golden hour most likely occurs when the Sun is between 6 degrees below and 6 degrees above the horizon. By this definition, the golden hour begins with civil dawn in the morning and ends with civil dusk in the evening.

Why Is the Light Golden?

When the Sun is just above the horizon, its rays impact the Earth at a low angle and they have to travel through more of the Earth’s atmosphere before they reach us. On their way to the Earth’s surface, they encounter atmospheric particles such as dust and water droplets, which filter the sunlight, ultimately making it less bright. This process also adds more indirect light to the mix, softening contours and reducing the contrast.

At the same time, the thicker layer of atmosphere that the sunlight has to pass through scatters the blue and violet wavelengths, allowing more light in the orange and red spectrum to reach Earth. This scattering decreases the sunlight’s color temperature and makes it take on a golden or reddish hue.

Twilight Colors

During civil twilight, when the Sun is at most 6 degrees below the horizon, Earth’s upper atmosphere reflects the sunlight, illuminating the lower atmosphere and making the sky appear in golden and reddish colors.

While this period is commonly included in the definition of the golden hour, it produces a lighting effect very different from the direct morning or evening sunlight, also requiring photographers to work with different camera settings.

Does the Golden Hour Last for 60 Minutes?

The duration of the golden hour depends on both the latitude and the season. In locations where the Sun is directly overhead at noon—for example at the equator during the equinoxes—the Sun traverses the horizon at an angle of 90°, making for swift transitions between night and day and a relatively short golden hour. For example, in Quito, Ecuador, which is very close to the equator, it takes the Sun only about 50 minutes to move from 6 degrees below the horizon to 6 degrees above it.

At higher latitudes, the same process takes longer. At around 40 degrees north and south, for example in New York and Wellington, it takes around 1 hour in March. In Oslo (about 60° north) and the northernmost tip of Antarctica (about 60° south), the golden hour lasts over 90 minutes at that time of the year.

Within the polar circles and just outside them, the Sun does not sink lower than 6 degrees below the horizon during the summer, so the golden hour can last all night. Close to the poles, it can even last for several weeks around the equinoxes, when the Sun’s zenith slowly passes the equator and the polar night gives way to the Midnight Sun.

Golden Hour Photography Tips

The golden hour is a great time to shoot any kind of picture, including portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, and still life. To capture the magic of the golden hour in your photos, try following these guidelines:

Civil Twilight Today

Civil Twilight from 04:21-04:56 in the morning.

Civil Twilight from 19:15-19:50 in the evening.

When is Golden Hour and What is It

Golden hour is a time when the Sun is just about to rise or set and the angle between rays and the surface is about 10 degrees. The light goes almost horizontally, and it has to penetrate thick layers of air, which makes it diffuse.

Golden Hour in photography and videography

The low Sun turns red, as a result, the light gets soft and reddish, even goldish. Pictures and videos shot during this short period look cozy, romantic, and nostalgic.

It is hard to overestimate the meaning of Golden Hour for filmography. This type of lighting is very flattering: it hides all the possible imperfections, smooths the colours and, in the contrast to the harsh midday Sun, softens the shadows.

Another thing that makes pics shot at this time so special – they depict something that we usually don’t see, just because we don’t get up so early or stay out so late.

The Golden Hour time

Golden Hour is not a real hour. Its duration is defined by the season and the territory latitude. Overall, the further the country from the Equator is, the longer this golden period lasts. Above the Arctic Circle, for example, it can last almost 24 hours a day.

On average, in Europe, the USA and other countries, it takes about 20-30 minutes right after the sunrise or before the sunset. Mind that the morning or the evening may be cloudy, and if the sky is overcast, there is no Golden Hour.

To chase it and get the exact time when it starts/ends, you can use the following tips:

If you don’t manage to catch it – don’t worry! Tomorrow is another day. And you still can enjoy the time right before the sunrise and after the sunset – so called, Blue Hour.

How to use Golden Hour

As the very definition implies, Golden Hour is the perfect time for outdoors shooting. It doesn’t matter what you record or take photos of – landscapes, portraits or whatever else.

Because of the low Sun objects get a shining halo, and there is a kind of haze in the air – a natural bokeh effect.

All you need – is to choose a perfect position. If the rising/setting Sun is behind the objects/people, they’ll turn into sunlit silhouettes. If the light flows from the side and – even better – bounces from the glass (or special reflectors), the figures will get a light-rim.

Photo and video editing

Even the best shootings may need the further cutting, looping, combining with audio, muting, etc. And that’s when Clideo’s editing tools come in handy.

They are free for files up to 500 MB each, and you can process as many pics or videos per a day, as you need.

Clideo service works online on any device. It’s extremely user-friendly: there are even language options for the interface if English is not your native. Each action may be performed in three simple steps, and if you need a manual – you can find one on every tool’s page.

What Is the Golden Hour?

As photographers and videographers we always have to work with the light that’s available. Sometimes that’s a full lighting department with fancy lights and modifiers but, most often, natural light from the sun is all we have. Although there’s no such thing as “bad” light, some kinds of natural light are easier to work with and lend themselves better to different purposes.

One of the earliest pieces of advice photographers get is to take pictures during the hours either side of sunrise and sunset. This time each morning and evening where the sun is low in the sky is called «the golden hour,» as there is a soft golden light that’s flattering for most subjects and easy to work with. While the sun is below the horizon, the light takes on a blue colour and, for the time enough light remains to work with, it’s called «the blue hour.»

In this tutorial I’m going to look at what causes the blue and golden hours, why they’re so good for photography, and how to work with them.

What Causes the Golden and Blue Hours

Photography and videography, more than almost any other art form, are driven by physics. The earliest photographers were all scientists. What light does and how it behaves are entirely down to physical properties. The golden and blue hours are a result of how light interacts with the Earth’s atmosphere under different circumstances.

Light from the sun contains many different wavelengths of light. The human eye is sensitive to the difference in wavelengths of light, and we experience each different wavelength as a sensation of colour.

When all the wavelengths of light are present in roughly equal proportions we see this as white light. However, if the proportions change we begin to see the light as the colour of the dominant wavelength. Blue light has a wavelength of around 475 nanometers (nm), yellow light has a wavelength of about 570 nm while red light clocks in at 650 nm. All the other colours on the visible spectrum have other wavelengths.

The reflected blue light from the sun is what lights the scene. Bridge at Twilight. ARZTSAMUI/Photo Dune.

The different wavelengths of light interact differently with the earth’s atmosphere. Light with a shorter wavelength (violet and blue light) is scattered more easily than light with a longer wavelength (yellow, orange and red). At midday when the sun is high in the sky this doesn’t matter so much as the light’s path through the atmosphere is at it’s shortest, however, when the sun is low in the sky the light is entering the atmosphere at an angle it matters a lot. When the sun is low the light has to travel a greater distance through the earth’s atmosphere to reach you and whatever you’re photographing; the more atmosphere the light passes through the greater the effect it has on the shorter wavelength light.

At sunrise and sunset the blue light from the sun is scattered into the atmosphere while the yellow, orange and red light is largely unaffected. This reduces the amount of blue light reaching you directly and creates the beautiful golden light. While the sun is below the horizon, however, the longer wavelengths of light pass straight through the atmosphere and out into space. The shorter blue light that’s scattered through the atmosphere is reflected back down to earth and causes the blue hour. This reflected light is why we can continue to work even after the sun sets.

How to Work During the Golden Hour

Light during the golden hour is some of the easiest to work with and is flattering to almost any subject.

During sunrise and sunset the dynamic range of most scenes is narrower than it is at other times. This means your camera is more likely to be able to capture both highlight and shadow detail in a single frame. The overall reduction in light levels keeps the highlights in check while the low angle doesn’t create the harsh, dark shadows typical of direct sunlight.

The low sun creates the golden hour. Beautiful Sunset on the Sea. Anna_Omelchenko/Photo Dune.

During this time the light levels can change rapidly, falling by a stop or two in as little as ten minutes. If you aren’t careful and constantly evaluating your camera’s settings it’s easy to end up with over-exposed or under-exposed images. One way to counter this is to work using aperture priority mode.

The overall light levels can also be quite low during the golden hour. Although your eyes can see clearly, your camera may struggle to get a proper exposure. Using a slower shutter speed, wider aperture or faster ISO than you would otherwise during the day can help.

In his course on environmental lighting for video, Jordy Vandeput looks at a variety of natural lighting scenarios. The free lesson from the course below covers working during the golden hour.

How to Work During the Blue Hour

During the blue hour there is still plenty of light to work with as long as you move fast—like the golden hour, the overall light levels will change quickly. While it’s not ideal for portraits, some of the best landscape, and especially seascape, images are shot during this time.

To capture great images during the blue hour, it’s best to use a tripod and longer shutter speeds. If you want to shoot hand-held you will need to raise your ISO.

With the low light levels, the blue hour is the perfect time to take long exposure shots. Even without a neutral density filter, you can get shutter speeds of over ten seconds just by using a moderate aperture and low ISO. At Envato Tuts+ we’ve explored long exposure in quite a lot of detail. Kevin Gater’s tutorial on on using intervalometers will get you started. One of the best subjects for long exposure photographs are moving water and Marie Gardiner has a great tutorial that covers the basics. I’ve also written about using your smartphone to control your camera which is perfect for long exposure images.

What Time Is Golden Hour (And How To Photograph It)

What time is golden hour is one of the most important questions you could ask when you want to level up your photography. These short moments after sunrise and before sunset are especially popular with portrait and landscape photographers, and probably the best time to take photos outside.

Even if you have no idea what the golden hour is or how to use it, we’ve got you covered below.

Table of Contents

What Time Is Golden Hour?

Roughly speaking, the golden hour is the first hour of light after sunrise and the last hour of light before sunset.

So, there are actually two golden hours every day.

However, this is just an approximation. Depending on the season and your location the golden hour might be a lot shorter or longer.

For example, if you are close to the equator where the sun rises quickly the golden hour might only last a couple of minutes. But if you are far north and the sun doesn’t rise very high during the day you might be able to enjoy this great light the whole time.

When Is Golden Hour Exactly?

If you want to know exactly when Golden Hour is for a specific location there are some handy tools available online and as smartphone apps. Just enter a location and time and they will give you a plethora of information to plan your shoot.

You can also use this handy sunset and sunrise calculator to get a rough estimate of what time the golden hour will be in the morning or evening. Then the first golden hour of the day will start just before sunrise for about an hour. The second golden hour starts around an hour before sunset.

Pro Tip: If you’re out shooting somewhere and want a rough estimate about how long it will take before the sun will set, just use your hands to figure out how much time is left before sunset.

A Bit More In-Depth

When the sun sets in the evenings and rises in the morning it passes through several light phases. Depending on the elevation of the sun, we call them:

As you can see, the exact definition of the Golden Hour is the period where the sun lies between 4° below and 6° above the horizon, so it even starts a bit before sunrise in the morning and lasts a bit longer than the sunset in the evening.

This also explains why your location and the seasons have such an influence on what time Golden Hour is.

During summer the sun rises almost straight up from the horizon. As this means it has only a short distance to “travel”, these transitions between night and day happen pretty fast. For example, around the equator during the equinoxes, it only takes about 50 minutes for the sun to move all the way from 6 degrees below the horizon (twilight) to 6 degrees above it (daylight).

In the same way, during winter the sun takes a lot longer to pass all the phases which leads to a longer golden hour.

As you know, during summer within the polar circles the sun never goes lower than 6 degrees below the horizon. This means the golden hour might last the whole night there.

What Is The Golden Hour?

The golden hour in photography is quite a big thing, especially for those who like to use natural light in their photos. In that case, it’s one of the best times to take photos outside.

But if you’re wondering “what is the golden hour and why is it so great?”, here’s what makes it special:

Warm Colors

The Golden Hour gets its name from the bright orange and red colors that are present during this period of time. This warm color temperature bathes everything in a “golden” glow.

This is very flattering for portraits and creates a warm and cozy look. It also brings out other colors and makes them more vivid and dramatic, making it ideal for landscape or cityscape images.

The reason for this golden color cast is simple:

When the rays from the sun travel to earth, they collide with small atmospheric particles such as water droplets, oxygen, nitrogen, and dust. This makes them “scatter” in all directions.

The blue and violet wavelengths get scattered more than the warmer wavelengths. That’s why we see the sky as blue during the day.

During the Golden Hour, however, the sunlight needs to travel a much longer path through the atmosphere to reach the earth than during the day. This means the blue and violet light gets scattered more and almost filtered out, leaving mostly red and orange light to reach our eyes.

Diffuse & Directional Light

Because the light from the sun has to travel through more atmosphere, it also becomes more diffuse while still remaining directional.

All the collisions with the small particles in the air (water, oxygen, nitrogen,…) act as a giant diffuser, softening the intensity of the direct light and lowering the contrast. Moreover, the deflected light bounces off the ground and clouds adding even more to the diffuse effect by filling in the shadows.

Since the sun is “lower” than the clouds at this point, the reflection of the golden sunlight from underneath them is also what leads to the sky lighting up with a soft, warm orange light.

The loss in contrast makes it easier to correctly expose your images and means you need a lower dynamic range without dark blacks or blown-out highlights.

Contrary to daylight coming from everywhere when diffused by the clouds, the light during golden hour still has direction as it’s only coming from one side. This in combination with a lack of strong shadows or harsh lighting makes the golden hour the ideal time for landscape and portrait photography.

Golden Hour In Photography, And How To Use it

Now that you know when the Golden Hour is and what it is exactly, let’s go over how you can use it in your photography.

The special quality of light during the golden hour will help you create beautiful photographs for any type of outdoor images. While mostly used for portrait and landscape photography, it also works great for architecture, travel, nature and lifestyle images among others.

General Tips

Obviously, “what time is golden hour?” should be your first question, whether you’re going to photograph in the morning or before sunset.

Ideally, you’ll also want to have an idea what the shooting location looks like and where exactly the sun will rise or set. This way you will be well prepared and be able to utilize every moment of the golden hour.

If possible try to find out what the weather will be like. You don’t want to arrive at your location and discover the sky is fully clouded, or have your “hour” cut short.

Couple this with some ideas about your vantage point, shooting angles, poses. and you’ll be able to make the most of this small window of time with great lighting.

Be On Time

The golden hour in photography is important but short. Make sure to arrive at your shooting location well beforehand to set everything up. Even if that means you’ll have to get up quite early.

You don’t want to be messing with your equipment and miss some precious lighting moments when the golden hour starts. If there is a model involved, make sure they are all ready on time.

Golden Hour Photography Settings

As the light has to travel through more atmosphere, the light is less bright during the golden hour.

This means you might have to use a larger aperture or higher ISO than during the day to get enough light in.

Another option is using a tripod with a long exposure when shooting landscapes.

Since the light intensity will constantly be changing as the sun rises or sets, you might want to use Aperture priority mode. This saves you from having to adjust the settings all the time while keeping your depth of field the same.

Keep Shooting

During the golden hour and especially during summer the sun will move pretty quickly. This means the lighting will change fast and everything can look dramatically different every couple of minutes.

And as we saw earlier, the golden hour doesn’t end when the sun goes over the horizon but lasts a bit longer.

So stay for the entire golden hour and keep shooting to capture every variation.

Now you know when the golden hour is and how to use it in your photography. Go out during this best time of day to take pictures and create your own “golden” images!

Hi there, I’m Maarten! Welcome to Photography Domination. I create in-depth online photography courses and resources for photographers. I also read a lot and give stuff away for free.

When is Golden Hour? How to Capture the Perfect Light

G olden hour is a term to describe a certain kind of light that is incredibly pleasing to the eye, and also looks incredibly cinematic. But what is it? And when is golden hour? We’ll look at some examples from top Hollywood filmmakers as well as tips on how you can capture images in this incredible light.

What Time is Golden Hour

When is golden hour and what is it?

Golden hour (a.k.a. magic hour) refers to the sun’s positioning relative to whatever you are photographing or filming.

But, in layman’s terms, what is it, and also, when is it? Knowing the range of golden hour time will help you capture incredible light for your images and footage.

Golden Hour Time

When is golden hour?

Golden hour is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour of light before sunset that produces a warm natural light. That window of time is determined by where you are geographically, as well as the season. Golden hour occurs when the Sun is between six degrees below the horizon and six degrees above.

This lighting it produces is ideal for photography because of the relationship between the sun’s positioning and distance to your subject. During the rise and fall of the sun, it is closer to the subject, and it is also moving through the atmosphere at a much lower angle than usual, producing soft diffused light.

This type of light works well for photographers. It does not create any harsh shadows or exaggerated highlights. Golden hour also casts a warm color temperature illuminating the subject in a fairly flattering way.

What is Golden Hour good for?

How exactly does golden hour light get that perfect color? And how can you use it and plan for it, to get the best shots.

Aputure’s video below lays it all out in four minutes.