The Golden Hour is usually described as the approximate hour before the sun sets for the day, or the hour after the sun rises. The colors present at this time of day tend to be more orange and red, or golden, and also softer. This is the opposite of the blue hour, which is the period just before sunrise or just after sunset when light is diffused and even, and more of a bluish hue. In my opinion, these two times, the Golden and the Blue Hour, are generally when all the magic happens. One thing about the Golden Hour when shooting toward the setting sun on a flat ocean or lake, is you can get gorgeous reflections. So gorgeous in fact, that it cam appear as a mirror, perfectly reflecting back to the viewer the same exact scene below the horizon as above. One helpful tip about shooting into the sun is that when the sun is still above the horizon, you will notice that your camera’s sensor will have “sun stars” or serious lens flare. If you position your camera, or even your body in a different position to what you are shooting at, you can most often line up those “stars” with the sun or the reflection in the water of the sun. Try it next time you are shooting a sunset, and you just might have yourself a spectacular sunset photo. The biggest reason those stars are showing themselves in the first place is because the sun is quite literally the brightest object that you can point your camera at. The sun overwhelms the sensor of your camera to the point where it can’t possibly handle it. And then there’s one more thing you can do to eliminate the sun stars, simply wait until the sun starts to set. You will find that once the sun starts to slip behind the horizon, that there’s less harsh light for the sensor on your camera to deal with. The photo accompanied here is a good example of this, it was probably only a minute or two that the sun had slipped below the horizon in this photo. So try some magic of the Golden Hour photography and see what you can come up with. To me it’s one of my go-to’s for a beautiful image. As always, thanks for reading. Namaste.
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