Today I experienced one of the most beautiful sunrises (Golden Hour) this Winter. Unfortunately I was working and unable to sneak away to take a few photographs in a more photogenic environment.
What is the Golden Hour?
The definition of the Golden Hour is when the sun is low on the horizon and is dependant also on your surrounding topography. I use an app called PhotoPills to tell me when this period is in the location I am. The App also provides much more info that I haven’t learned to use yet. This photograph was taken on my Sansung SmartPhone and is therefore a little grainy. I tried to capture both the Sun and the Tree but unfortunately the Sun was just to bright to allow me to attain a balanced image. I therefore waited for the Sun to go behind the tree and I captured this sillouhette Photograph.
How to Capture the Best Images
Over the years, I have spoken with many Photographers both face to face and also on forums. They all seem to say the same thing and that is you need to use apps such as PhotoPills to determine the right time and also use weather apps to to determine if you will have cloud cover and if so how much. Obviously if its fully overcast the Golden hour will be meek at least. With a little cloud cover however the Potential for a spectacular golden hour is very high. There is however as always no guarantee and you must be prepared to set yourself up and leave the location of your choice empty handed.
You can, like me just carry on with your day and use the trusty phone camera to capture an image should it occur. I must admit that the qauality of the image is disapointing when taken with a Phone camera but beggars can’t be choosers.