Photographers love golden hour for its soft, warm glow, which adds a sense of depth and dimension to every shot. You have two opportunities every day to capture golden hour pictures: shortly after sunrise and just before sunset.
The sun is low on the horizon during these times, casting gentle light and long, flattering shadows. These elements make the people, places, moments, or objects you capture feel cinematic with the dramatic lighting results.
Whether you’re searching for photo tips or a memorable way to capture moments, learn more about golden hour photos below.
When is golden hour? Why it's the best time of day to shoot
Golden hour is the period just after sunrise and shortly before sunset, when the sun is low in the sky, and light travels through a thicker layer of the atmosphere. The result is warmer, softer lighting that’s more directional than midday sun.
While exact timing varies by location and season, golden hour typically lasts from 30 minutes to just over an hour.
Once you know what golden hour is and have experienced it, you’ll see why some consider it the most beautiful time of day to take photos. Understanding golden hour lighting can help you capture images that feel intentional and emotional.
Golden hour works well in photos for the following reasons:
- Soft natural light: The low angle of the sun diffuses light naturally, reducing harsh shadows and blown-out highlights—creating a balanced exposure that’s easier to work with and forgiving for both beginners and experienced photographers.
- Warm tones: Golden hour lighting adds glowing yellows, oranges, and soft pinks to your images. This gives photos a cozy and nostalgic feel. These tones are powerful for memory-driven projects like family albums or travel scrapbooks.
- Depth and texture: Longer shadows add dimension to portraits, landscapes, architecture, and everyday scenes. Subtle contrast helps photos feel more immersive and visually interesting without overwhelming the subject.
- Flattering for multiple skin tones: Warm, indirect light smooths skin and minimizes unflattering contrast, making it ideal for portraits of all skin tones. Faces appear more even, natural, and vibrant without heavy editing.
- Low contrast and gentle highlights: Without the sun overhead, golden hour lighting creates a smoother transition between light and shadow. This prevents blown highlights and deep blacks, making photos easier to edit and more consistent across a full shoot.
- Natural separation: Directional light helps subjects stand out from their surroundings without artificial blur or heavy editing. Use this for portraits, lifestyle shots, and storytelling images.
6 tips for capturing golden hour photos
Knowing how to take photos during golden hour helps you make the most of this short-lived window of time. Preparing your timing, positioning, and settings can dramatically improve your end results.
Try the following tips to help you capture golden hour photos:
1. Shoot just before or after golden hour
Shooting just before or just after the golden hour for photos allows you to take advantage of the most flattering light of the day. To best capture the lighting, start photographing 10-15 minutes before golden hour officially begins, when the sun is still low, and light is softening.
Then, continue shooting through golden hour and into the 10-20 minutes immediately after, when the sky often fills with pastel colors and gentle gradients that add mood and dimension.
Early moments provide warmer highlights and longer shadows, while later moments offer softer contrast and cooler tones. Stay flexible and shoot across this full time to increase your chances of capturing images that feel dynamic and emotionally rich.
2. Backlight your subject
Backlighting your subject is one of the most effective techniques in golden hour photography because of how low, directional light behaves near sunrise and sunset. Position your subject so the sun is behind them, with the light spilling around their edges.
This creates a soft glow or halo effect, adds separation from the background, and helps avoid harsh facial shadows.
When posing, have your subject turn slightly sideways or angle their shoulders away from the sun instead of facing it directly—allowing the light to skim across their outline while keeping their face evenly lit.
You can also ask them to tilt their chin toward the light or step just enough to let the sun peek around their profile for a more dynamic shot. These subtle adjustments help produce warm, luminous images that feel timeless.
3. Set exposure for highlights
Setting your exposure for the highlights is essential in a golden hour photo because the brightest areas of the sky can easily become overexposed.
Adjust your camera’s exposure to preserve detail in the lightest parts of the image—especially around the sun and sky. This step keeps colors rich and prevents blown-out areas that can’t be recovered in editing.
To do this, use exposure compensation and slightly underexpose your shot by -0.3 to -1 stops, depending on the scene. If your camera allows it, switch to manual mode and lower your ISO while adjusting shutter speed or aperture until highlights are intact.
If shooting on your phone, simply tap your subject to focus and adjust the exposure with the controls that pop up (usually with a sun icon). Slide one way to increase exposure and the other to decrease it.
This way, you can maintain the warmth and depth that make golden hour photos feel balanced and professional.
4. Use reflectors to bounce light
Using reflectors helps you make the most of the soft, directional light of golden hour without overpowering the natural look of the scene. With the sun low, shadows can still fall across faces or important details, especially when your subject is backlit.
Bouncing light back onto your subject fills in these shadows gently, keeping skin tones balanced while preserving the warm glow of golden hour.
You don’t need professional gear—many everyday items work just as well, such as:
- Photography reflectors: Designed to control light precisely, with white or gold surfaces that enhance warmth without harshness.
- White poster board or foam core: Inexpensive and effective for softly filling shadows on faces.
- Light-colored walls or pavement: Natural reflectors that bounce ambient light without extra equipment.
- Aluminum foil (matte side): A quick DIY option that reflects light strongly when needed.
5. Plan your shots ahead of time
Golden hour is brief and constantly changing, which makes planning your shots ahead of time especially important. Light can shift dramatically in just a few minutes, so knowing exactly what you want to capture helps you avoid wasted time and missed opportunities.
A clear plan allows you to move confidently from one setup to the next while the light is at its best.
Creating a shot list before you arrive ensures you prioritize the most important photos first—such as key portraits, wide scenes, or meaningful moments. This is especially helpful when working with people, children, milestones, or multiple locations, where coordination matters.
Planning ahead helps you stay focused and work efficiently to take full advantage of golden hour’s limited but beautiful window.
6. Emphasize golden hour lighting during editing
Editing is where you can subtly enhance the natural beauty of golden hour. The goal isn’t to dramatically change the image, but to emphasize the warmth, softness, and contrast that make the light special.
Thoughtful adjustments help your photos reflect how the moment felt, not just how the camera captured it. To add drama while preserving a natural look, gently increase warmth and vibrance instead of saturation.
You can also use highlights and shadows to guide the viewer’s eye to your subject. Slightly lowering highlights keeps the sky rich, while lifting shadows restores detail without flattening the image.
Photos to capture during golden hour
Golden hour isn’t just ideal for beautiful light—it naturally elevates meaningful, real-life moments. Because the light is soft, warm, and emotionally rich, it’s especially well-suited for experiences you want to remember and preserve.
Here are some everyday occasions and special moments where golden hour adds depth and storytelling to your photos:
- Engagement sessions: The warm, flattering light helps couples feel relaxed and connected, making golden hour ideal for romantic, natural-looking engagement photo poses.
- Weddings: Golden hour wedding photos are often built into the day’s schedule for a reason—it creates flattering, consistent lighting for groups and candid emotions.
- Quiet personal moments: Whether you’re reading, journaling, or sipping coffee on a balcony, these slower moments reinforce the idea that meaningful photos don’t require big occasions.
- Walks, hikes, or bike rides: Golden hour adds depth to rural and urban landscapes, turning simple movement into visually layered, story-driven images.
- Sailing or a waterfront walk: The low sun reflecting off water creates glowing highlights and natural motion. You’ll end up with photos that feel calm, cinematic, and immersive.
- Maternity photos: Golden hour gently highlights curves and expressions without harsh contrast, creating soft and emotional images that align beautifully with maternity photo ideas.
- Family moments at home or outdoors: Whether it’s kids playing in the yard or a quiet porch moment, golden hour family photos enhance candid interactions and provide a natural glow.
- Homecoming moments: Add warmth and emotion to already meaningful interactions, making hugs, smiles, and first reactions feel even more powerful.
- Travel experiences and sightseeing: From evening city walks to sunrise viewpoints, golden hour brings out color, texture, and atmosphere—especially when taking travel photos in unfamiliar places.
Transform your golden hour glow into a photo book keepsake with Mixbook
From small moments to life’s milestones, golden hour photos transform everyday scenes into images worth revisiting. Turning them into a thoughtfully designed photo book helps ensure your favorite golden hour photos live on beyond your camera roll.
Bring your memories to life by creating a keepsake that reflects the warmth and meaning behind each photo. With Mixbook Studio™, you can customize layouts, refine colors, and design a photo book that glows as warmly as your favorite golden hour photos.
