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The Beauty of the Golden Hour

So, you’re living a beautiful life. You have a wonderful family, are surrounded by wonderful people, and live in a wonderful home. Can things get more beautiful? It turns out that yes, they can, thanks to the golden hour.

 

The golden hour effect lends a nostalgic, transcendent beauty to the world around us. At this specific time, things appear glowing and perfect – just as life should be.

So if you ever want to take a photo of something extra beautiful, capture it at the golden hour. In this article, we’ll tell you how.

 

The Golden Hour Explained

The golden hour happens twice a day, the hours just after sunrise and just before sunset. During these times, the sun’s rays hit a very low angle and bend around our atmosphere. Its rays are scattered by the microscopic dust and water of our atmosphere, scattering the blue and violet spectrums of the sun’s rays.

The effect is magical and memorable. The golden hour is a time of the day when the light turns yellow and warm, thus earning its nickname.

These times of the day are certainly appealing to behold, but they can also make for some stunning photos. The environmental conditions are just right: the light is warm, soft, and comes from one direction. Used right, it stirs a sense of nostalgia and a dreamy atmosphere, not far from being transported back to a magical point in time when we looked at the world with child-like wonder.

This is the golden hour, and in this article, we’re going to discuss how you can enjoy it the most in a Brittany home.

 

What is the Beauty of the Golden Hour?

 

The golden hour is arguably the most beautiful hour to take a photo of a subject matter. The quality of the light is even, at least from the direction that it shines from, and it has a beautiful yellow hue that automatically evokes interest.

As a result, it’s much easier to take a quality photo–the even light makes the exposure just right, not under or overexposed.

More specifically, we can identify three characteristics of the golden hour that makes it better than the rest of the day:

• Quality. Because of the very low angle of the sun in the sky, the sun’s rays do not shine directly and instead are diffused throughout the environment. This makes the light softer, which is always more kind to pictures than direct, harsh light.
• Direction. During any other time of the day, the light from the sun is close to omnidirectional. However, the sun comes only from one direction during the golden hour, making it easy to create effects such as lens flares, sunbursts, and silhouettes.
• Temperature. The golden hour has an undeniably warm color temperature, denoted by the yellow hue of the light. In color psychology, yellow creates feelings of positivity, cheerfulness, and joy – which must at least be part of the reason why it looks so beautiful.

Beauty and luxury create some kind of positive feedback loop. Beauty enhances luxury, but luxury also enhances beauty. That’s why beautiful things appear even more beautiful in the golden hour – and which is why you simply have to experience the golden hour in a Brittany development, which features some of the most beautiful houses in the Philippines.

 

What Kind of Photography is Best During the Golden Hour?

The unique light quality of the golden hour naturally leads to these hours being the best for certain kinds of photographs. In this section, we’ll discuss exactly which types of photography suit the golden hour best.

Portrait photography

 

During normal daylight hours, taking portraits outside presents plenty of challenges.

For example, subjects can squint under the direct light of the sun, shadows might not cooperate with you the way you want them to, and the background can get overexposed because of the uncontrolled lighting.

However, the golden hour eliminates those issues. Its primary strength is the yellow hue of the light, which adds interest and flatters your subject’s complexion. More than that, the one-directional, low angle of the light creates deeper shadows that act in predictable ways. It also lends itself to a wide variety of effects that you can do with your subjects.

SUGGESTED READ: Best Spots to Catch the Golden Hour in Laguna | Brittany Corporation

Wedding portraits

 

Wedding portraits are usually meant to be more scenic and dramatic than a standard portrait. Just as previously mentioned, this could be difficult to compose under direct sunlight, not to mention, it could be hot for everyone involved depending on where you are.

The golden hour makes the photographer’s job easier. Lighting is much more flattering, dynamic, and dramatic. You wouldn’t have to worry about your subjects squinting or cooking under the hot sun.

Effects are also much easier to incorporate in your compositions during this time. The single direction the light is coming from acts in predictable ways that you can exploit, compared to the omnidirectional lighting of the rest of the day.

 

Landscape photography

 

The golden hour is also great for landscape photography. The low light means that you can use longer shutter speeds, which allow you to capture extra details in the environment that would have otherwise been missed.

Shutter speed indicates the length of time the shutter in your camera opens, affecting how much light is let into your camera’s sensor. The faster the shutter speeds, the less light hits your sensor. The slower the shutter speed, the more light gets in and the more details you can capture.

Shutter speed also affects motion. If you would like a moving subject to appear still in photographs, you should capture them with a fast shutter speed, as this will make them look still. Slower shutter speeds let more light into your camera’s sensor, so it’s going to result in a lot of blurs if motion is taken at slower shutter speeds.

Low light landscape photography is a match made in heaven. The necessity for slower shutter speed is compensated because landscape photos are usually still. Add to that the awesome lighting, and you have yourself a very detailed and atmospheric landscape photograph.

In the Philippines, Brittany Corporation has some of the best landscapes in a luxury real estate development. All you have to do is set foot in Tagaytay’s Crosswinds to realize that the combination of sweeping valleys and rolling hills would make for a gorgeous golden hour vista.

 

Architecture photography

 

The golden hour’s unique glow doesn’t just benefit human complexion. Buildings and various forms of architecture also become a lot more interesting during these hours.

Like landscape photography, the low light and shutter speed that this atmosphere requires captures a detailed and dramatic photo. The shadows are also deeper, and the yellow hue mitigates the hard edges.

The awe-inspiring architecture of the luxury homes created by Brittany Corporation appears much more beautiful under the golden hour. With creations inspired by worldwide styles such as Vista Alabang inspired by Italy, the Promenade inspired by the English countryside, and the Belle Reve inspired by France, you can find an endless array of choices to consider when photographing architecture during the golden hours in Brittany.

 

How to Capture the Golden Hour

 

Now that we know what the golden hour is and what makes it so wonderful, you might be thinking that it’s time you try your hand at capturing one in a photo. Great! We’re all for it.

This section will discuss how you can maximize this awesome phenomenon to take awesome pictures during this time of the day.

 

Crucial elements of a golden hour photo

Although the golden hour is a great time to take photos, it doesn’t mean that the images you take will automatically be great. When taking a picture, there are still many things to consider, such as the sun’s angle, where you position your camera, and what your subjects should be doing.

Here, we’ll talk about several crucial aspects of a photo that you must keep in mind when taking pictures in the golden hour.

 

Composition

The great lighting won’t excuse the lack of creativity – you still have to compose an engaging, dynamic, and visually appealing photo.

Think about everything relative to the sun when considering the composition of a photograph that utilizes lighting from the golden hour. Position your camera to best capture the interplay of light and shadow that is so precious during these hours.

You might even want to think about including the sun in the shot. At least be mindful of the long shadows cast by the objects within your composition.

 

Light effects

 

A halo or reflected ray of golden sunlight is undoubtedly one of the most iconic kinds of golden hour shots around.

You can create bounce lights by positioning your subject in places where light typically bounces off surfaces, such as windows, metal, or water. Meanwhile, rim light effects can be done by placing your subject directly in front of the sun in your shot to create a dark silhouette with a golden outline.

 

Lens flare

This is one potential issue that can affect you when taking pictures during the golden hour because the sun sits so low on the horizon. Lens flare can also happen when including the sun on the shot, so prepare accordingly.

What you can do is turn the lens flare into visually engaging sunbursts by shifting to a lower aperture for your shot, or you can reframe the photo entirely.

 

Silhouettes

 

Much like halos and reflected light, silhouettes are also very effective with the lighting provided by the golden hour and are one of the essential kinds of pictures you have to take with these conditions.

More than that, it’s very easy to shoot silhouettes because the light is only coming from one direction. Add to that the golden lighting, and you can create a great visual atmosphere, even just with silhouettes.

 

Raw shoot

Shooting raw allows you to gather more details even as the shadows grow deeper.

Less light is available the more the horizon hides the sun, so shooting raw will help you adjust to the changes in lighting by still letting you get some details where there might be underexposed parts of your shot.

 

Tips and Tricks for Photography in the Golden Hour

 

The golden hour is a wonderful time to take any kind of picture. Whatever kind of photography you’re into, the golden hour lends a dreamy and magical atmosphere that makes everything look more interesting.

Now that we know the crucial elements of shooting a photo in the golden hour, here are some tips and tricks to help you get the shot of a lifetime.

 

Plan your shots beforehand

An hour is way too short to think about composition, camera settings, setup, and equipment. You want to be ready when ample time arrives, so you should plan what kind of photos you want to take beforehand, set up everything an hour or two before the time, and simply wait for the sun to rise or set.

 

Don’t be scared to experiment

The golden light unlocks many possibilities for a beautiful shot. Don’t just stick with what you know! Go wild and experiment. Play with lighting, create beautiful effects with the sun’s rays, or evoke different atmospheres with the hour’s distinct coloring.

 

Make sure you have a tripod

You’re going to have to play around with many low-light options, and some of them could be finicky. Different apertures and shutter speeds capture different kinds of motion blurs and camera shakes that otherwise wouldn’t be there in a lit environment, so a tripod will keep things stable.

 

Experiencing the Golden Hour in Brittany Developments

 

So why is Brittany talking so much about the golden hour? Simple – because it is a form of beauty. Brittany’s core principle is to create beautiful experiences by forming a first-class environment and populating it with the best and the most beautiful mansions in the Philippines.

And this is our promise – you can experience the most beautiful golden hour in a home built by Brittany. Every little detail of our communities, luxury houses and lots, and individual rooms are made to be for the enjoyment of the few who deserve it.

Luxury and beauty together form a positive feedback loop–so is experiencing the golden hour in Brittany Corporation’s luxury real estate developments.

 

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