Photo Tip Friday: What is Golden Hour in Photography? Part 2

by Mary Denman    @MaryDenman

Golden Hour is a magical time in photography. 

It occurs twice a day. It’s the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset. Because of the position of the sun near the horizon, the rays have to travel through the most atmosphere and this creates long shadows and soft, golden light.

Last week in part 1,we talked about Golden Hour and how the light is different than the rest of the day. 

This week, I want to show you how to use this time to create warm, magical shots.

Let’s get started.

Photo Tip Friday: What is Golden Hour in Photography? Part 1

by Mary Denman    @MaryDenman

Lighting is one of the most important components of photography. Understanding how light effects your photos is crucial to creating photos you're proud of. 

Today, I'm going to explain something called the Golden Hour. It occurs twice a day. During the Golden Hour, the light is most flattering for people. And, it creates some magical effects which is why it's also called Magic Hour. 

Technically, it's when the sun is between 0 to 6 degrees with respect to the horizon. 

Practically, it occurs for the first hour after the sun breaks the horizon in the morning. Then, it occurs again for the last hour of the day before the sun sets. 

Let's see what the Golden Light looks like and how it differs from other light throughout the day. 

Photo Tip Friday - Using Reflections in Water

Welcome back to Photo Tip Friday! 

Today, I'm going to talk about using water reflections to create interesting photographs.

Here's the first shot. Notice the hint of the buildings in the top of the frame and the actual reflection of them in the water? The spire shone beautifully in the setting sun. And that light made the reflection in the water very distinct. But there were ducks out that evening. I thought they added a little interest to the shot as their wake cut across the spire. 

Here's a fall photo. Notice the towering trees reflected in the water? The leaves form perspective in this shot. And the ripples add interest. Notice I caught the ripples in an area that was mostly blue? It made them stand out more that way. 

The leaves in the foreground add a great pop of color and help your eye figure out what the perspective is since the trees are upside down.

Again, I'm using the surface of the water as a means to show the gorgeous, October blue skies and the colorful foliage of fall in the mountains. 

Here's a picture of nothing but the colors of the sun and sky reflected on the surface of our neighborhood pool.

It definitely has an abstract feel to it. 

You can also use the water to reflect people. Here is a swimmer doing the breast stroke. Although the water behind the swimmer is very turbulent, the water ahead of him shows his reflection very well.  

I framed the shot to get both him and his reflection instead of cutting off the reflection.



In all of these shots, there is a common element besides the water. It's essential in every one of them. Can you see it?  

Study the shots. 

Yes, there's water. But what else? 

Light. Lots of light. 

You can get a silhouette of a reflection when there isn't much light. But to get a complete reflection? You need lots of light. 

So, give it a try. Go find a puddle of water somewhere and see what you can see. 

Which is your favorite shot of these? 

Let me know. And if you have photos for me to look at for you, please leave a comment with a link and I'll be happy to pop by!

Hope this tip helps. 

Keep on clicking. 

Mary

Photo Tip Friday - What's That Dial For? Pt. 3

Welcome back to What's That Dial For? 

So far, we have covered what the letters on the dial stand for and an overall look at them. You can read that post which was Part 1 by clicking here. 

Then we covered Aperture Values. It was more in depth than Part 1. You can read about Part 2 here. 

The last post was a bit deep. But I want you to at least try and learn about aperture values. 

This week will be a little bit easier to talk about and understand. 


1) Time Value (Tv) - controls how long the shutter is open for. 

1/500th of a second

On my camera, I can have the shutter open for several seconds or have it take a picture in 1/4000th of a second. Yes, you read that right. 1/4000th of a second! It had better be bright for that shot! 

So leaving the shutter open for longer means that you're letting light in for a longer time. This is used for dark lighting situations. Think night time. 

The faster the shutter moves, the less light it lets in. So taking a shot at 1/4000th of a second needs very bright light to register the "image." The faster shutter speeds can be used to keep your photo from being washed out in bright light and is very effective in capturing movement without making it blurry. 

Helpful hint. If you have a shutter speed of less than 1/25 - 1/15 of a second for a shot, you will need to use a tripod or brace your camera. Set it down, lean up against a wall, set it on a railing.          

As long as I haven't had too much caffeine, I can hold it steady to 1/15th of a second. But I do brace my elbows against my body AND I have learned not to breath during the shot.

You can experiment and see how slow you can handhold your camera or cell phone. In the above photo, I set the camera on the rail on the right to steady it because I had to the leave the shutter for 1/2 a second to make the evening shot be bright enough.

2) ISO - How fast the speed of your film is. 

Let's go back to print days. Remember the range of ISO? 

ISO 100

ISO  64  - slides - highest quality - clearest 
ISO 100 - film - used for SUNLIGHT
ISO 200 - film - used for general purpose
ISO 400 - film - used indoors or to capture movement (sports)
ISO 800 - film - used in darker lighting
ISO 1600 - film - used in the darkest situations - think CANDLE - grainy

ISO 1600

My camera, a Canon Rebel T3i, has ISO values of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400. The great thing about digital cameras is that you can see your photo immediately and adjust the ISO with the click of a button or turn of a wheel. 

If you'll notice from the posts, some of the functions of Av, Tv and ISO overlap.  You can change each parameter and effect the shot. So next post, I will show you shots and how changing the different variables effects those shots. 

But in the meantime, do you use a particular ISO? 

Which is your favorite shot of these 4?

Hope this tips helps! 

Keep on clicking!

Mary