The word photography comes from the Greek roots “photo” (light) and “graphy” (drawing). Photography, literally, is drawing with light. The way that light hits the subject is what makes the photograph.

While I do use artificial (flash) lighting in my studio, for the purposes of this blog post, I’m going to discuss the use of natural light: the sun. Most photographers prefer to schedule their sessions during what we call the “Golden Hour” which is the hour after sunrise or the hour before sunset. Natural light can be unpredictable (particularly in the summer, where clouds and storms sometimes seem to come from nowhere!) but I love the look of a beautiful sunlit outdoor portrait. I’d say 95% of the outdoor photos in my portfolio were taken during the golden hour.

I often have clients hesitate when it comes to sunset pictures. A large percentage of my clients are young families, and, as the mother of 3 children under 5, I get it. Bedtime is important, and many kids melt down if they’re kept up too late. But I really can’t stress enough how important it is to plan your sessions around the light. I am far more picky on location for non-sunset sessions, but I do have a couple spots I use with clients when the Golden Hour just won’t work. Ultimately, they are your pictures, and I know no one wants a picture of a crying kid, even if it’s in beautiful light!

So a couple weeks ago, I decided to take some pictures at various times of day to illustrate the difference that time of day makes. These were just taken in my backyard, using my daughter as a model (she had a doctor’s appointment that day, which explains the Frozen sticker 🙂 ) I used the same camera, lens and aperture for all the pictures. I ended up having to do it over the course of 2 days. It started out sunny but ended up overcast and I wanted to keep the conditions the same. On this particular day, sunset was around 7:15.

I took the first picture at 10:30am. This is obviously not a great portrait. My daughter is squinting and there are harsh shadows across her face. Her eyes look like black holes. The sun is way too bright, and a session at this time (at least in this location) would be a disaster!

The next shot was at 1:00pm. There’s not a huge difference between this and the last. The light and shadows are still harsh. Again, though the sun is clearly in her face, her eyes aren’t lit up.

I took this at 4pm. Now, I could have positioned her better and had her face a bit less shadowed, but it still is not what I’d consider great lighting. Had I turned her and had the sun behind her, it would have prevented the shadows on her face, but the background would have been overly bright.

Now we’re getting closer to sunset. This was taken at 5:45. The backyard was more shadowed, the lighting more even and softer.

And my favorite! The 6:30 shot. I was able to backlight her, which is my favorite type of lighting. See the ring of light in her hair? I love that look. It’s soft and beautiful.

The lighting at sunset is really the best. The warmth and softness helps create beautiful portraits. It’s why I always recommend that my clients do their best to adjust schedules to be able to get to their sessions at sunset. The pictures below were all taken at sunset. Different locations, different times of year, but all within that hour time frame.

All this said, I’d never want anyone to think they can’t get beautiful pictures at a time other than sunset. If your children just won’t make it until 7:30 or 8 (by mid-June, sunset is almost 9pm), or if your extended family can only get together at a specific time, please don’t think you shouldn’t get professional pictures. However, I will recommend certain locations, and discourage others.

Or it could be cloudy, and it won’t matter anyway! 🙂