How to shoot
How to shoot at golden hour (and what to do when you miss it)
Golden hour is the hour after sunrise and before sunset, when the sun is low enough to light a face from the side rather than from above. Place the…
How to shoot
Golden hour is the hour after sunrise and before sunset, when the sun is low enough to light a face from the side rather than from above. Place the…
In short: Golden hour is the hour after sunrise and before sunset, when the sun is low enough to light a face from the side rather than from above. Place the sun behind your subject for a rim of light and expose for the face, or turn them into it for warm frontal light — and start earlier than you think, because the good light lasts about twenty minutes.
Overhead sun drops shadow into eye sockets and under the nose and chin — the least flattering light there is. As the sun drops, it lights the face across rather than down, which fills the sockets and defines the jaw. The warmth is a bonus; the angle is the substance.
Backlit: sun behind the subject, which gives a bright rim around hair and shoulders. Expose for the face, which means the background will be brighter — that is correct, not a mistake. Shade the front of the lens with your hand to control flare.
Frontal: subject facing into the low sun. Warm and even, but people squint, so ask them to close their eyes and open on a count of three.
The genuinely good light lasts perhaps twenty minutes, not an hour, and in London in midsummer it arrives after 8pm. Arrive early, have the location chosen, and shoot the throwaway frames before the light is right — warming up during the good light wastes it.
Find open shade: the shadow side of a building, under a tree canopy, a doorway. Shade is soft and directional and it is available all day. The other reliable option is to embrace the hard light rather than fight it — deep shadow, strong contrast and a graphic look is a deliberate register, and it is fashionable right now.
The twenty minutes after the sun goes gives cool, even light with no shadows. It suits editorial and cityscape work and it is the best time for direct flash against a still-visible sky.
The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, though the best light is roughly the middle twenty minutes of it. Check sunrise and sunset times for the date — in London it shifts by hours across the year.
Behind for a rim of light and softer expressions; in front for warm even light, at the cost of squinting.
Overcast is a giant softbox and is genuinely easy to shoot in. It has no direction, so create some by positioning your subject near a wall or in a doorway.
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