Golden Blue

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! I trust you’re ready for Easter, as we move into the holy weekend.

How are things going with shooting only 1 focal length? Have you worked through the limitations and found the strengths associated with your chosen lens or focal length? This weekend should provide many opportunities for working the exercise. Easter processions, children pushing carts to tell the time, family gatherings, and of course, the ubiquitous Easter fountain in every village. Work around your subject and see the angles, the lighting, and the lines. Enough on the exercise, though.

Today we’re going to introduce a couple concepts you may know about. The first is “golden hour” and the second is “blue hour.”

First up, the “golden Hour.” The golden hour is typically the first and last hour of sunlight in the day. It’s usually the hour after sunrise and before sunset. During this time, lighting is softer and more diffuse. The light also takes on a golden or warm hue and imparts warm tones to your overall image. It makes for some great landscape shots, and when applied to portraits makes for some magic images. It allows for slightly longer exposure times, and in the process adds detail to shadows and prevents blown highlights. Of course, that all depends on your exposure settings, but we know about that. For landscapes, it impacts color and saturation in desirable and magical ways. Artist were painting during this time hundreds of years ago. They knew the magic and its impact on their art, now you do, too.

The “blue hour” is the time between full dark and daylight. It generally refers to the period of twilight that is neither dark nor light, and is thought of in terms of the hour before sunrise and after sunset. The lighting is very soft and cool. It lends itself well to landscapes and cityscapes, but also to sea and waterscapes, where the light can compliment the water’s darker blues and blacks. It works great also with night lighting by signs, windows, and other warmer light sources. The blue hour comes on quick, nipping at the heels of sunset, or ushering in sunrise. Get to your chosen location early in the evening, shoot through sunset, and then be prepared for some incredible twilight shots. I encourage you to try some portraits during this time. Bring a couple flashes and click away for some dramatic results.

I hope this has given you something to consider the next you’re shooting our Hohenfels area in the evening or pursuing the perfect sunset photo. Remember to stick to the exercise over the weekend and look for next week’s on Monday. Enjoy the weekend and Happy Easter to all. God bless!

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