What is The Golden Hour and Why should I care?

What is the Golden hour
The Golden hour is that magic time twice a day when we all look our absolute best in photos. Approximatly one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset when the sun is low in the sky. What makes golden hour light so great?

• Well, first of all its soft. Since it has to travel through more atmosphere the light rays spread out and soften meaning they don't leave harsh shadows like the ones in the photo below.  Plus, when the light is soft you can look right into it without squinting.
• .  Second, Golden hour light is warm in color. on its way through the atmosphere more of the blue wavelengths are lost and scattered leaving more of a red/yellow tone. Those shades of light are universally flattering, making people look like they have a nice tan.
• Thirdly, Golden hour light is dimensional. Shadows are longer and soften than they are during midday giving photos a more three dimensional effect.

What if I can't schedule my photos during golden hour!?
No worries. While the golden hour really is ideal its not always possible to take photos then. But there is something you can do to mitigate those middle of the day issues, find some open shade. Open shade is a large area of uniform shade. You can use shade from a tree but be careful for stippled light coming through the branches like in the photo below. 

make sure to set the white balance on your camera to shade so that your photos don't come out too blue. You can get beautiful photos in open shade but try to occasionally get out there during the golden hour, you won't regret it.
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