I love shooting during the golden hour. It’s my favorite type of light, no matter if I’m taking pictures in the morning or the evening.

The golden light looks fantastic even on a blue sky day, but when you combine it with dramatic clouds, it will give your image the extra kick to stand out from the crowd!

There are many more reasons to plan your photography shooting during this time of day, and I’m going to cover my five main ones in this short article.

Make sure to check out my post about “how to plan your photography trip” to find out more about being at the right spot at the right time.

So let’s get started with some sample images. You will quickly realize that most of my five reasons apply to almost every single photo taken during the golden hour, which proves even more that it's a fantastic time of day, in my opinion.

Reason No. 1 - Saturated colors

The sunlight during the golden hour helps to bring out the saturation from colorful areas in your landscape beautifully and naturally.

So let’s take a look at some sample shots so I can demonstrate to you what I mean by that.

The brown grass in this shot was quite dull in midday light, but the late sun brought out all the fantastic colors and contrast in it.

Brown grass generally works excellent with golden light.

It also applies to this shot from Iceland. The dunes looked like they were supersaturated because of the last orange light of the day.

how to plan your photography tripIt’s also a brilliant contrast to the dramatic landscape up there.

The third image is another perfect example of how golden light works perfectly with the natural colors of your image.

The red plants got saturated like crazy when the sunlight hit them. This moment only lasted for a couple of minutes, but it makes all the difference, in my opinion.

Reason No. 2 - Deep casted shadows

Another awesome reason why to love the golden hour is the deep casted shadows, which can appear in the landscape when the sun has the right angle.

They can add an extra point of interest to your image, which makes it special to watch. Let’s take a closer look at some sample images again.

This shot from the Italian Dolomites is a perfect example. The sunrise light was still too low at the horizon to light the entire landscape up there. The results were deep and contrasty shadows in certain areas, which added an impressive 3d effect to my photograph.

Make sure to take advantage of that while editing your photos to make them stand out even more!

Here is another example image from the beautiful Lofoten islands, which shows nicely why dark shadows help a lot to make your image stand out by adding this 3d effect.

The sun only hit the tops of the bushes, and the rest was still in deep shadows.

When you apply some cool toning to your dark shadows, then you can achieve an outstanding color contrast as well. The brown color of the grass helped a lot to make them stand out even more.

The last sample photo was taken in the Saxon Switzerland in the east of Germany at the fantastic Bastei area.

The early sunlight hit only the top part of the trees and hills while the rest was still in dark shadows, which again created an amazing 3d effect on this image.

I’m sure I don’t have to say anything else about why I love the golden hour, but I will, of course, show you some more examples.

Reason No. 3 - Depth and dimension

I already talked about how the light helps to bring out the natural colors of a subject in your frame. And I also mentioned how it adds contrast because of long casted shadows. Now I want to talk about depth and dimension.

We all know the situation when you want to photograph a rock/mountain or a forest, but it looks super flat during midday or when it’s overcast.

The golden light from the right angle can create fatanstic effects. I love it when it only hits a particular part of my composition to create an extra dramatic effect.

Let’s take a look at some sample pictures now.

In this photo, the sun again made all the difference. It was a late afternoon in Northern Norway back in October 2019.

This time of day can already be considered as the golden hour when you’re far up in the north. The golden side light brought out a lot of lovely details in the landscape and added a nice effect to the yellow trees.

In my opinion, autumn is the best time of the year when you want to shoot during the golden hour.

Here is another perfect example of how powerful the golden light can be in your images. This photo was taken at a lake in Germany/Bavaria called Eibsee, and massive mountains surround it.

I had to wait like 30 minutes after sunrise until the light managed to shine through. That was the time when the magic happened. Without the light, the scene was still lovely to look at because of the fog, but there was no depth or dimension in it.

Everything looked flat. The golden light makes it possible to see all the fine details in the forest and in the reflection, which makes it exciting to watch.

This shot from Passo Giau in the Dolomites - check out my article about the 5 best photography locations in the Dolomites - is another perfect example of how the right light can bring out details in your shot.

The last light of the day added a lot of depth and contrast to the scene, which again completely changed the mood in my shot.

Reason No. 4 - Dramatic light effects

I’m a sucker for dramatic skies; I can’t deny it. My favorite type of light is when the sun pokes through a thick layer of low clouds to light up the landscape. These conditions almost always help you to create amazing images.

The golden hour is the perfect time of day for this. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite sample images.

Dramatic light mostly happens in the mountains as the weather is changing fast, especially during the summer. I’m talking about the alps, though, as it's the mountain area where I’ve been to the most.

This shot here was taken in the Italian Dolomites, and it was a perfect evening for me.

I spotted a gap on the horizon and was hoping that the sun will poke through to light up the entire area. You can see in the image if it did happen or not.

The next photo is also from the Dolomites. You can see again what a dramatic effect the golden light creates when it shines through some thick low hanging clouds.

Here is another shot from the Dolomites, but this time from the Passo delle Erbe area. The same light situation, though.

The last sunlight hit the bottom part of the mountain, which again added a lot of drama and interest to my photo.

Reason No. 5 - A calm and pleasant look

Of course, the golden hour can also be beautiful without any clouds in the sky. It looks fantastic when you’re photographing a calm early morning scene with some fog or mist happening in the valley/forest.

Let's take a look at two example images.

This shot was taken in the beautiful Tuscany during a spring morning back in March 2016. The golden light made the fog look like a golden blanket that was lying on the green hills in the background.

Without a cloudless sky, this kind of view would not have been possible.

So it’s not always wrong when they’re no clouds, you “only” need the right landscape to take pictures. Sounds easier than done, I know.

The last sample which I’m showing here in this article was again taken in the Italian Dolomites.

Take a look at my Dolomites post if you want to know where this location is.

A blank blue sky can also look beautiful when you have mountains as your main subject. The fantastic alpenglow and the white snow are interesting enough already, so you often don’t need any clouds in your frame.

In this case, it helped to focus the eyes on the dramatic peaks and the nice foreground reflection.

Alright, guys, that’s it with my five reasons why I love shooting during the golden hour. I highly encourage you to do the same as it’s simply a wonderful time of the day, and it offers so many possibilities to create awesome images.

So what is your favorite time of the day to take pictures, and what kind of light do you like the most?

Let me know down in the comments; I’m curious about your opinion!

Cheers,
Daniel Gastager