{"id":73293,"date":"2020-06-23T20:01:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T11:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fujifilmnxtc.wpenginepowered.com\/stories\/the-golden-hour-and-blue-hour\/"},"modified":"2024-05-02T03:14:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:14:11","slug":"intermediate-month-7-travelling-with-your-camera-27-blue-golden-hour","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/stories\/intermediate-month-7-travelling-with-your-camera-27-blue-golden-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Hour and Blue Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>The golden hour and blue hour are some of the best times to be outside with your camera, especially when you\u2019re on vacation. But they don\u2019t last for long, so you\u2019ll need to be prepared. Here\u2019s how to make this light work for you.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve probably noticed how amazing the light looks towards the start and end of the day. You may even have heard photographers referring to magical times like \u2018the golden hour\u2019 and \u2018the blue hour\u2019 as being the best times to be outdoors with a camera \u2013 not only when framing landscapes, but also for portraits and details, too.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The golden hour refers to the time just before sunset (or just after sunrise) when the sun is low down in the sky. The light is much warmer and more directional, so it picks out details in the landscape better.<\/li>\n<li>The blue hour, on the other hand, occurs just after sunset (or just before sunrise) when the sun is only just below the horizon. The sky takes on an inky blue color, against which the bright lights of a city look amazing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s have a look at which subjects look good in these conditions and how best to photograph at these times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3>The Golden Hour<\/h3>\n<p>\nThe light of the golden hour is not as bright as that of the midday sun, but it\u2019s still bright enough to photograph handheld. The warmer, softer light will give your subject\u2019s skin a wonderful glow, which is why it\u2019s the perfect time to create individual or group portraits of family and friends who you\u2019re away with \u2013 they\u2019ll definitely thank you for it! Opening up your lens\u2019s aperture will help get in enough light to give you the fast shutter speed you need, and it will also create gorgeous out-of-focus regions behind your subject that will really make them \u2018pop\u2019 off the background.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp_flexbox col2\">\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/X-T3-90mm-F2-model-kyleighglover.jpg?width=581\" alt=\"Learn photography with Fujifilm, The Golden Hour and Blue Hour \" width=\"581\" height=\" 871\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\">\u00a9 Xing Liu<\/li>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/X-T2-35mm-F2-model-kyleighglover-3.jpg?width=581\" alt=\"Learn photography with Fujifilm, The Golden Hour and Blue Hour\" width=\"581\" height=\" 871\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\">\u00a9 Xing Liu<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>The golden hour is also good for landscape photography. Don\u2019t make the mistake of thinking you have to photograph into the setting\/rising sun; look behind you and you\u2019ll see the scenery that\u2019s bathed with the golden light from the sun looks amazing, too. Bear in mind that the light levels will be dropping, and you might want to use a smaller aperture for front-to-back sharpness, so you\u2019ll either need to raise the ISO sensitivity or, better still, use a tripod. You can make a picture without wobbling the camera by using its self-timer, or the remote shooting function on the FUJIFILM Camera Remote smartphone app.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/DSCF2309.jpg?width=1500&#038;height=1000\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3526562\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>A word about white balance here: Auto White Balance (AWB) may try to correct for the orange glow of golden hour and make it look like regular daylight. If this happens, try one of the white balance presets such as Daylight or Shade instead. This will preserve the warmth of the ambient light.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3>The Blue Hour<\/h3>\n<p>\nUnlike the golden hour, the blue hour doesn\u2019t actually last for very long at all \u2013\u00a0certainly not 60 minutes! This means you need to be super prepared in order not to miss the photo; planning is vital.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Elia-Locardi-Travel-Photography-X-T2-beta-Singapore-by-Night-Singapore-2048px-sRGB.jpg?width=1500&#038;height=1000\" alt=\"Learn photography with Fujifilm, The Golden Hour and Blue Hour\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3526270\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><br \/>\n\u00a9 Elia Locardi<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>If you want to photograph a specific landmark, you can use online tools like Google Maps to work out where you need to stand and in which direction the sun will have set. It\u2019s also worth doing a preliminary trip in daylight to make sure you know what the view will look like when the sun goes down.<\/p>\n<p>Blue hour is nowhere near as bright as the golden hour, so you\u2019ll need to use a tripod to get the very best images. Again, use a two-second self-timer or the FUJIFILM Camera Remote app to make pictures without wobbling the camera and causing blur.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/DSCF2296.jpg?width=1500&#038;height=1000\" alt=\"Learn photography with Fujifilm, The Golden Hour and Blue Hour\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3526514\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>It\u2019s also a good idea to bracket your exposures when you\u2019re photographing in the blue hour, and to shoot Raw files that give you more flexibility to lighten and darken different parts of the picture selectively in post-production. You can bracket yourself by turning the exposure compensation dial, by adjusting the shutter speed and aperture manually, or you can use your camera\u2019s auto bracketing function, which makes the whole job a lot easier.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp_flexbox col3\">\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Blue-hour-bkt-1-1.jpg?width=581&#038;height=363\" alt=\"The Golden Hour and Blue Hour\" width=\"581\" height=\"363\"  data-recalc-dims=\"1\">+1<\/li>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Blue-hour-bkt-0.jpg?width=581&#038;height=363\" alt=\"The Golden Hour and Blue Hour\" width=\"581\" height=\"363\"  data-recalc-dims=\"1\">0<\/li>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/fujifilm-x.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Blue-hour-bkt-1.jpg?width=581&#038;height=363\" alt=\"The Golden Hour and Blue Hour\" width=\"581\" height=\"363\"  data-recalc-dims=\"1\">-1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>As with the golden hour, try using a white balance preset, such as Daylight or Shade, if you find that your camera\u2019s Auto White Balance setting is correcting for the blue light in the sky.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3>Your Next Steps<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>CHALLENGE<\/strong> We want to see your best golden-hour and blue-hour pictures. Post them to social media with the hashtags #MyFujifilmLegacy and #goldenhour and #bluehour. You can also submit your work <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/myfujifilmlegacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Header image \u00a9 Patricia Davidson<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The golden hour and blue hour are some of the best times to be outside with your camera, especially when you\u2019re on vacation. But they don\u2019t last for long, so you\u2019ll need to be prepared. Here\u2019s how to make this light work for you. You\u2019ve probably noticed how amazing the light looks towards the start [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":61983,"template":"","category":[2427,1202,2329,1251,565],"post_tag":[],"b2b-solutions":[],"class_list":["post-73293","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-type-stories","category-category","category-tips-category-stories","category-type-stories","category-stories"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 21:29:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/73293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=73293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_tag?post=73293"},{"taxonomy":"b2b-solutions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b2b-solutions?post=73293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}