High noon is often touted as the worst time of day to shoot a good photo. The direct light of the sun can be harsh, causing colors to bleed and resulting in images that are flat and blown out. But don't be fooled. With a little extra effort, you can take your midday photos from overexposed perfectly composed.
The last hour before sunset and the first hour after sunrise are coveted by professional photographers. Referred to as “the golden hour” or “magic hour,” these times provide the perfect light to capture stunning photos. Learning to harness the power of the golden hour is a tool every photographer can use.
The best time to take pictures outside is 1-2 hours after sunrise or 1-2 hours before sunset, which is known as “golden hour.” You can still create beautiful photos at other times though.
The best time of day to take portrait photos is in the couple hours after sunrise and the couple hours before sunset. Within that time, it is better to shoot after the morning golden hour or before the evening golden hour.
Direct, downward lighting produced during midday or high noon creates photos that look flat, thus making photographers shy away from shooting during this time of the day.
The worst light of the day is between the hours of 10am and 2pm when the light comes from overhead. This creates terrible and unflattering shadows where we don't wait to see them (under our eyes, under our noses to make them seem bigger … no one wants that).
The harsh afternoon sun likes lower ISO, so be sure to set your camera to ISO 100. Nothing above ISO 1000 if you do not want to deal with washed-out images. You can also snap a neutral density filter on your lens and use it to bring down your shutter speed. This will give a livelier photo.
A noon sun is especially tough in portrait photos, because the eyebrows and forehead create harsh shadows over the subject's eye sockets, which is undesirable in a portrait photo. Wait until the sun is lower in the sky to improve your results.
For golden hour landscape photography, set ISO 100, a narrow aperture like f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/30 or 1/60. For golden hour portrait photography, use ISO 100, a wide aperture like f/2 and a shutter speed of 1/250 – 1/500 – preventing an overexposed image.
With a great camera, you can still shoot some gorgeous, clear night photos at a high ISO. Utilize a high slow-shutter speed. This is going to depend a bit on what you're shooting.
Professional photographers swear by the perfect light of the "golden hour," which lasts for about an hour right after sunrise and an hour right before sunset when the sun is low in the sky and offers a soft, diffused light.
The scientific explanation says that the golden hour is defined as "the period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset, during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky". So it's basically the ~60 min before sunset and the ~60 min after sunrise, regardless of the season.
One of the most popular periods of the day portrait photographers aim for is golden hour, or the short period immediately after sunrise or immediately before sunset in which the low angle of the sun causes the natural light in a scene to be soft and golden (hence the name).
You might imagine a bright, sunny day is ideal for outdoor photography, but that's not actually true. The intense light makes highlights too bright and shadows incredibly deep — unless you know the best camera settings for a sunny day.
The rule of thirds is a composition guideline that places your subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open. While there are other forms of composition, the rule of thirds generally leads to compelling and well-composed shots.
For portraits, Golden Hour magically erases blemishes. The soft, diffused light blurs imperfections and even adds the perfect touch of a glowing tan. Even more, it can help tap into emotions. Used as dreamy backlight, Golden Hour sun can evoke nostalgia and happiness, and a sense of youth.
In order to make your fake golden hour look real, you'll need to use small or medium strobes to light enough of the background elements so as to replicate the sun. Simply put, the closer the distance and the smaller the field of view in camera, the less light power you'll need to convincingly recreate golden hour.
Shoot With The Sun Behind You
One of the first lessons you learn in photography is to shoot with the sun behind you. If the sun is behind you, the subject in your photo will be illuminated from the front, ensuring that your subject is evenly and well lit.
Sunset is typically better than Sunrise in portrait photography because of the general flow of the session. A typical session schedule is as follows: Warmup and Basic Portraits.
Photo by Jannis Lucas. So, what exactly is the blue hour? It is that moment just before sunrise or after sunset when the sun dips below the horizon. This whimsical window of time is when a soft blue light fills the sky; creating a cool, peaceful setting that is every bit as beautiful as golden hour.
This rule determines that your lens aperture should be set to f/16, with a shutter speed of 1/your selected ISO. According to this sunny day rule, if you're using ISO 100, the shutter speed should be 1/100 and the aperture should be f/16. This rule generally produces the best-exposed front-lit photos on a sunny day.