Canon’s photography tips for the golden hour

On 6 October, most of Australia will enter daylight savings time, bringing with it the start of longer days, warmer weather and more reasons to get outside and practice your photography skills.

With warmer mornings and nights, what better time to start experimenting with capturing images during the Golden Hour?

For those not in the know already, The Golden Hour is the period of daylight just after sunrise or before sunset, when the light is redder and softer and can give photographs a warm and inviting quality. The preferred shoot time for photographers for the quality of the light, the Golden Hour gives images a little extra glow.

Canon has pulled together tips and device recommendations to make sure you get the shot you want and make most of the magical hues.

At dusk or dawn

Take advantage of longer, warmer evenings, and shoot during the golden light last thing in the day. You can combat the lower light with devices like the new EOS 90D, which has high-speed auto-focus and the latest DIGIC 8 processor to ensure your photos have great resolution, no matter the light.

A little bit of flare

Most of the time we don’t want flare when shooting. In the Golden Hour, however, it makes for some beautiful shots. All lenses flare differently, but typically telephoto or zoom lenses flare more than their fixed counterparts. The EOS R with RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens makes for a killer combination for shots where you want to have flare. You can create flare either by backlighting your subject with the sun so that your subject is only partially covering the light or by positioning the sun so that it rests just outside of the frame or fully inside it, depending on where you want to flare the appear.

Face the light

The Golden Hour is the perfect time to shoot portrait photography, as it’s the most flattering natural light. Have the person you’re shooting face the sun – it’s one of the few times they can as the diffused light means they won’t need to squint and the light won’t bounce off them. Shoot your model with a larger aperture lens, such as the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM, as this will allow you to create a lovely bokeh while keeping the focus on your subject.

Keep on keeping on

Once the Golden Hour begins, and it starts pretty quickly, the light will change dramatically and the window to capture images is limited. To make the most of the light and all the different shades and shadows, keep snapping the shutter for the entire hour. You might even want to try your hand at time lapse photography with Canon’s new EOS 90D that lets you shoot full HD at 120 frames per second. Pair this photography powerhouse with the EF 24-105 f/4L lens and you’ll be sure to capture that glimmering sunset in all its glory.