A photographer’s guide to natural lighting

A brief introduction to light on earth

The first thing you need to know is: light phases depend on sun elevation.

Mainly. It also depends on weather conditions, location, pollution, and particles in suspension, but the primary thing you have to remember is this: light phases depend on sun elevation. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but repetition = learning.

So let’s get to it. First, we need to build a foundation for the rest of the information we’ll throw at you in this guide.

Here are the main things you need to know:

• Light phases depend on sun elevation (But you know this by now. Hooray for repetition!).
• As the earth spins, the light from the sun interacts with the atmosphere surrounding the earth. Our atmosphere is composed of infinite little particles, living their little particle lives, swirling around and bumping into each other. There’s dust, and water, and lots of gas molecules, and when the light from the sun collides with these little guys, light scatters.
• Light travels in waves. The colours our eyes perceive are determined by the length of those waves. If you go through the rainbow in order (ROYGIBIV, as you learned in school) you start with the longest and fastest, red and progressively get to the slowest and shortest, violet.

Ever had a kid ask you “why is the sky blue?” and come up short when racking your brain for an answer? What we’re about to tell you holds the key to looking like the almighty genius superhero in the eyes of the next curious child that comes your way, so listen up.

Blue is at the slower side of the spectrum, (up near its friend Violet) and it gets scattered quite easily when it collides with the particles in the atmosphere. During the day, when the sun is straight above us, the amount of atmospheric debris its light travels through is at its lowest. Because the short and slow wavelengths of blue are the most readily refracted, it’s blue we see when we look up at the sky. The red wavelengths, which are larger and faster, pass right through the atmosphere during the middle of the day.

As the earth spins, and the angle of the sun changes (one more time: light phases depend on sun elevation), the light has to travel through much more of the atmosphere to reach us. The short, blue waves scatter and scatter and scatter until they pretty much dissipate. The longer, faster red wavelengths penetrate the atmosphere and very generously put on that spectacular sunset.

Now that we’ve got all that under our belts, we can get to the juicy stuff. Golden Hour, Blue Hour, Twilight and all of the beautiful photos you’re about to take once you’ve read this guide!

What is golden hour?

Golden hour is the golden child of all the magic hours. There’s something about this time of day that has the effect of making even the ugliest parts of a city look ripe with potential, radiant in the kind of light that trips a sense of warmth in the cockles of your heart. Maybe it’s magic, or maybe it’s biology, but what we do know is that it triggers nostalgia, happiness, and all the warm light fuzzies. The science of this phenomenon has to do with what we discussed above. Light, having to ‘work harder’ to travel a greater distance through the atmosphere, sheds all of the easily scattered bits of the spectrum and brings forth the faster, longer red waves and creates a diffused light without the harsh shadows present at noon. Turns out that light, filtered a greater distance through the atmosphere, makes for some really flattering portraits.

During golden hour, you need little to no skill to take a nice photograph because everything is just so darn golden. Who doesn’t love it when the world looks warm and friendly? Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and if you’ve scheduled a shoot for golden hour you’ll be racing against the clock to run through your shot list before the sun bends towards the horizon. All together now: light phases depend on sun elevation! So you wanna use that soft dimensional light to achieve creative effects that aren’t possible at any other time of day?

Here’s how to get the most out of golden hour

1. Plan ahead

If you haven’t already downloaded our app, it’d be in your best interest to do so before scheduling any more shoots! It tells you when golden hour is based on the location and time of your proposed shoot, and helps you avoid most sun-related logistical stresses (we’re in the prototyping stages of our next app that clears the rain clouds for you at the push of a button).

When you’re planning, remember to take the topography of the landscape into consideration. If you’re shooting in a valley surrounded by mountains, obviously the horizon will obscure the sun earlier than if you were shooting by the sea. The last thing you want is to travel to a location only to have it be dark by the time you get there. Be thorough in your location scouting, and take some test shots during Golden Hour if time permits so you can be confident about how best to shoot on the day.

2. Set your WB

When you’re pinched for time, Auto White Balance can be a real helping hand! It’s definitely gotten us out of a few sticky situations in our time. But it’s NAHT helpful getting the golden shots during golden hour. The little smart computer in your camera isn’t smart enough to understand creative control, man. So. If you want to avoid negating all of the magic of golden hour photography, set your white balance to ‘shade’ or ‘cloudy.’ If you want to go manual, anywhere between 4000K and 6000K should get you the warm colours you’re after. And don’t forget to shoot RAW to give you maximum creative control in the post-processing suite.

3. Spot metering

Make sure you’re spot metering so your camera knows what’s important and can compensate exposure for people’s faces instead of that patch of grass in the background.

4. Wide aperture

You’re going to roll your eyes, but I’m going to say it again anyway: light phases depend on sun elevation! Instead of using a tripod, shoot at a wider aperture and hike up the iso to compensate for lack of natural light.

5. Know your options

No matter how you shoot during this time of day, your photos will be infused with Golden Hour’s signature glow. And as lovely as that is, sometimes it’s good to present said glow in myriad different ways. Differentiate between shots by experimenting with some of these techniques:

Backlighting:

Place your subject in between you and the sun to achieve a dreamy, hazy glow. Don’t forget to bump up your exposure to avoid obscuring your object’s face -- it’s the worst when you’ve been dishing out all of these great prompts and they’ve been flashing you all their pearly whites only to have an underexposed face! If you’re really pushed for exposure, you can reflect a bit of light back onto your subject or use a speedlite.

Rim Lighting:

You know those photos that turn your subject’s hair to gold? That’s rim lighting. The sun behind, but not directly behind the subject lights up the edges of their silhouette. This is great for separating your subject from the background (and making them look a little holy).

Front Light:

I don’t have to explain this one to you, you know what it means. Front. Light. Light in front of the subject. Make sure your WB is set properly for this one to avoid orange faces. When done well, front lit portraits are even, warm, and flattering.

Silhouette:

This is a great one for those big, gestural poses, and great for when everyone’s smiling face gets a little tired. Meter for the background, and shoot your subjects against that bright golden sky.

Flare:

Strip the lens hood from your camera. Go on, do it. When you let a little light into the lens, sun flares add a bit of intrigue and depth to your image.

What is blue hour?

Our eyes are incredible. Next time you’re in front of a mirror, take a second to acknowledge that. Look at your eyes looking at your own eyes, and just let that sink in. Our eyes are so incredible that they often compensate for the way the light changes as earth spins around the sun, and it’s not until we take a photograph that it’s easier to see the perceptible difference in light phases over the course of a day.

Aptly and deceptively named Blue Hour, this period of twilight in the evening just before dark or just before the first breath of light spills over the skyline each morning happens when the sun is at a significant distance below the horizon. The soft light that refracts and diffuses through the atmosphere at these times takes on a predominantly blue hue, casting a wonderful luminosity onto your subjects.

The deceptive thing about it is that it often lasts for a frustratingly fleeting amount of time (less than an hour) and if you’re one of the punters hoping to capture the dreamy, ethereal qualities that Blue Hour has to offer, you’ve gotta be savvy and quick.

Here are some of our tips to help you milk blue hour for all it’s worth:

1. Find space

Get out of the shadows and find some wide open spaces that allow all of that silky blue light to bounce off the sky and onto your subjects. You’re working with limited light conditions, and being out in the open will buy you some time. If you can find a location that has both open space and perhaps trees or rocks, you’ve struck gold with conditions that deliver on exquisite light and a steep light fall-off.

2. Exposure hacks

Expose for the midtones. The diffuse light during blue hour pulls the highlights and the shadows into the same range. Shooting at blue hour forces you to push your ISO, and metering for the midtones allows you to hold onto the detail in the highlights while also keeping the texture of the shadows.

3. Dial in your settings

Like in Golden Hour, Blue Hour is no time to let the smart camera computer make any decisions on your behalf. Because you don’t want it neutralising the luminous blues of this time of day, set your white balance between 6500K to 7500K. You should always be shooting in RAW, allowing maximum latitude in post-processing, and the magic hour is no exception.

4. Work quickly

You’ve got roughly 20-40 minutes of this kind of light. Sometimes even less. Get your head around what you’re trying to achieve before your shoot so you can be as efficient as possible during it.

Creative license

Thinking about it now, it still feels miraculous that we’re somehow able to turn scattering fragments of light into a recognisable image. Don’t be afraid to push the technical envelope when shooting and editing during this time. It’s not about getting it right down to the perfect exposure and submitting to the rule of thirds. Allow yourself more creative freedom. Respond to and be inspired by the unique quality of light. Let it guide you into creating otherworldly images. Be bold, creative, and enjoy yourself.

Let's recap:

1. Plan ahead. Light waits for nobody!
2. Master your settings. Don’t use AWB for the magic hours
3. Break the rules and lean into the creative freedom various lighting scenarios can provide