I have read it now in so many places that the best time to take a photograph is either the hour after dawn or the hour before sunset. Why ? I understand the shadows are longer and that may bring out the textures in some surfaces for effect. Yet surely this is only useful in some circumstances. I have seen great shots taken in the tropics with the sun is directly overhead where shadows have been used to great effect too. I live in the UK and the sun gets about 60 degrees above the horizon in midsummer, this time of year a lot less, so it is always at an angle to bring out some texture given the pov. The colours surely must be truer later in the day, unless you are looking for the warms hues that the recommended hours provide, and that can't be every shot. If so why isn't photo. lighting at a warmer temperature? Perhaps I have not developed and educated eye, I look at so many images from magazines etc. where the sky is either purple or a vivid voilet (through the use of filters) that I am beginning to wonder if I get landscape photography at all. I don't understand why snow should have a warm hue ? What time of day do you shoot and why ?

Well I'm insomniac and sleepwalker...take care... No matter the time passed or to pass...

Yes, well I am anyway! Depends what I am doing, usually early to mid morning of late afternoon to evening, depending on time of year, and what I am doing, mid day is ok for some situations, really you have to go with what looks good, its not clear cut. At opposite ends of the day the light is less harsh and warmer in colour, it is overcast here most of the time so it doesnt matter what time it is.

I don't know if I can explain this, but I'll try. The "Golden Hours", as they are called, are generally thought of as the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset on relatively clear days (of course, those times get longer and shorter depending on the season). The light quality and contrast are such that the difference between the highlights and shadows can be captured by almost every film and digital camera. As you get later in the day (again, sunny days), the contrast becomes greater and greater until around noon (or whenever the Sun's zenith is on that day) you have those seriously harsh, flattened shadows with an exposure latitude that many films and most digital cameras would find hard to match.

Within those two hours you have a lot of variation between the two. One of the things that is the same though is that because of the angle of the sun during these hours, the light is beautiful for portraits. The quality of the light is nice and soft and because of the lower contrast you are not limited in the poses you can use.

Try front lighting someone with the sun high in the sky. You either get heavy shadows in the eyes or squinting. Side light them and the contrast may be too high to get good shadow detail without blowing out the highlights. Back light and you are in silhoutte-land. That said, you can always use open-shade, diffusers and reflectors to compensate. But even then, it's tough to match the beautiful light quality of the natural stuff.

As for the differences between the two hours, here's what I can think of:

Hour After Sunrise

Air is usually as clean as it's going to be for the day. Traffic and whatnot have not kicked up dust and fumes and such. The air is usually more still than it will be later on (but that's more a regional thing). The shadows are nice and long, so you get lots of good texture. This is what makes a landscape or even macro. Flat texture in a landscape or macro really kills it for me.

Hour Before Sunset

That lighting is always really dramatic for me. You get those incredible colors caused by stuff in the air (dust, gases, fumes, whatever) along with the soft lighting and that incredible golden color that has a quality I've only seen in natural light. Fantastic for portrait and moody shots. For me, the light has an almost feminine quality. You also again get long shadows that are great for texture.

Of course, one of my favorite times to shoot portrait stuff is late-morning to late-afternoon. I hate waking up early. That's why I love shooting on brighter, overcast days. You get such a soft light quality and you don't have to get up at 5am. Down side is you don't get that magical light. But who would want to shoot that all the time, would get boring.

What it comes down to is that the golden hour does have some of the best light you can get, but it's not the only light there is. :)

-=>Donald

It sounds like you understand the principals quite well, so no longer need to memorize rules. It is all about light, so look for interesting light. It occurs at all times of day. A couple "rules" which may be helpful, though: a) The bright, fluffy snow on the branches all falls off after about 10:00am, (usually down the back of the photographer's neck). b) In most places (in the U.S. anyway), mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds come out in the evening. [Donald, the Pacific Northwest always astounds me in their absence. ]

Thx to all especially Donald for the explanation I think conditions here match your pretty closely.

most definately!... I have tried to stay up all night to catch the morning light but haven't made it past 4:30AM... thank goodness we're given a 2nd chance in the PM :]

Well, I'm most definitely an insomniac!! i sleep only 4-5 hrs. a night but i always miss my fav. shooting time unless i'm on vacation. my fav. time to shoot is one hour after dawn...always has been...always will. i never knew it was considered one of the best times to shoot though until i read this thread. i sleep cycle varies based on how much i work. the past 9 months or so, i sleep 3 am- 8 am. prior to that i've usually slept from 5 am - 11 am. (give or take). i HATE alarm clocks. The qualit of my life goes down drastically when i have to awaken to one. i'm very serious. and i'm most definitely NOT a morning person (well morning in the "normal" sense of the word...i'm a morning person if you're talking about midnight to when i go to bed!!! that's my most creative time.) while on vacation 16 months ago, i completely went on a 1st shift schedule without trying. we were on the beach for about 3 weeks. i awakened automatically before dawn every single morning. i was just so excited, and i would jump out of bed, make coffee, and sit outside on the balcony listening to sea, to the waves crash against the shore. hmmmm...these are heavenly times for me. luv remembering. my tripod was outside, set up, and ready to go. after i woke up, i'd mount my cam and wait. we had our Ipod set up outside, and sometimes i'd turn on soft music. and i'd just sit, listen, and wait. then i'd take a few shots as the sun was coming up. then, so as not to miss a thing, i'd take my cam and/or tripod (didn't always take one) and literally run out the door and hit the beach. that one hour after dawn...the most incredible hour of the day hands down. sometimes i'd just have tears running down my face from the sheer joy and magnitude of it all. i'd walk for hours and hours. *sigh*. you gotta shoot then if you've done so!!! anyway, as far as when the best times are for technical reasons, you'll have to listen to others. i just know what time was most incredible for me. thanks for most interesting thread!! oh...and i echo Misha's warning about the mosquitos in the evening...*splat*...and donald, what you say makes a lot of sense about why these are excellent times. i never thought of it before. here's one i took from my balcony. dunno exactly what time it was though, but i'm guessing it was maybe 45 min. after sunrise.

Nice shot shiela - suppose I am just lucky I don't live further north the photographers in Scandinavia musn't get any sleep at all. I wonder how they cope in June when the sun never sets or rises ? :)

Message edited on: 02/01/2005 10:23

where do you live, Richard? hmmmm, well maybe those guys have really dark curtains??? :)