The golden hours, occurring shortly after sunrise and before sunset, are prized times for landscape and outdoor photographers. During these times, the light takes on a soft, warm quality due to the low angle of the sun. Photos captured in this light have an amber or golden glow that can create very dramatic, beautiful, and moody scenes.
Subjects like fields, mountains, foliage, and architecture are illuminated in a flattering light that brings out texture and highlights beautiful colors. This softer light also causes fewer harsh shadows on faces, making it ideal for portraiture as well. While the golden hour presents special photographic opportunities, it also requires working quickly as the light changes rapidly. Photographers must plan ahead and be ready to adjust camera settings quickly to capture magical scenes during these fleeting windows of time each day.
Golden Hour Calculator
For photographers wanting to take advantage of the fleeting golden hours each day, a golden hour calculator can be extremely helpful. This tool allows photographers to precisely calculate sunrise and sunset times, as well as the astronomical golden hour windows before and after, for any given location on any date. The golden hour calculator factors in variables like latitude and longitude to determine how the length of days and position of the sun will change throughout the year.
Photographers can input their location and get exact golden hour times well in advance of a shoot to effectively plan their day. Some golden hour calculators even indicate twilight periods like blue hour and provide moon rise/set times that may influence available light. Having precise timetables of golden hours makes it much easier to capitalize on the optimal photographic windows each day.
Here are a few highly recommended golden hour calculators that photographers can use:
- Photopills Golden Hour Calculator – This is one of the most popular options. It allows you to see golden hour times on a calendar and even create planning maps. It works on desktop and mobile.
- SunSurveyor Golden Hour Calculator – Another free and easy to use tool. It provides both golden hour times and blue hour/twilight times for planning purposes.
- PhotoEphemeris Golden Hour Calculator – This one has advanced features like accounting for obstructions like hills or trees. You can visualize the sun/moon positions. It requires downloading the desktop app.
- Sunrise-and-sunset.com Calculator – A simple but effective online calculator. Just enter your location and it will show you golden hour start/end times for any date.
- Photographers Ephemeris App – For mobile planning, this app uses your device’s GPS to show exact sun/moon positions and golden hours for any location. Great for on-location use.
- Gaia GPS Golden Hour Overlays – For Gaia GPS users, this add-on overlay displays interactive golden hour windows on maps for route planning.
Related: Wildlife Photography
Golden Hour Camera Settings
While the beautiful light of golden hour creates stunning photo opportunities, it also requires some adjustments to camera settings. The low-light conditions mean higher ISOs will likely be needed to maintain fast shutter speeds. Common ISO ranges used are 200-800, but going up to 1000-1600 ISO is usually fine for quality too. Aperture should be moderated, usually between f/8-f/16, to maintain depth of field with the higher ISOs.
Shutter speed will depend on focal length but generally aim for no slower than 125th at a minimum to avoid blur. Using a tripod is also recommended, especially around blue hour. Other tips are to use matrix metering and underexpose photos by 0.3-1 stops to retain detail in shadows. Custom white balance settings near 5500K-5700K also replicate the warmer tones. With the right camera settings, photographers can capture lush golden hour landscapes filled with radiant light and spectacular colors.
Golden Hour Apps
In addition to golden hour calculators available online, several photography apps allow photographers to conveniently calculate golden hours on the go. Photographers Ephemeris and PhotoPills are two of the most full-featured apps, providing exact sunrise/set times as well as overlays to visualize changing sunlight and moonlight throughout the day. They use GPS to determine location and let you browse golden hours by date. Other handy apps include SunSurveyor, which offers basic golden hour timing utilities and a twilight calculator.
Golden Hour Free provides simple golden hour notifications and a monthly calendar view. For iOS users, Sun Seeker Pro is a top option with 3D sun/moon position indicators and scouting tools. Regardless of platform, having a dedicated golden hour app installed allows landscape photographers to quickly check optimal shooting windows anytime inspiration strikes. Combined with in-app camera tools, they offer complete mobile support for capturing magic hour photographs.
Golden Hour Portraits
