Golden hour

joshhuntnm

I have always heard that the hour before sunset is the golden hour for photography. for me, it has been an excercise in frustration. I have shoot of a 10 year old tomorrow and planned to take some of the photos outside. what do I need to know? Here are few of the better shots from today's practice round. I don't need to be told these aren't great. What do I need to do to take great pics in the golden hour?

cc welcome




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evoryware

What were your WB settings for these shots?

joshhuntnm

some are awb, some are daylight. I tweaked that just a bit in Camera RAW.

One other related question. How do I ask this. I want each person's skin color to look the same in each photo, regardless of the conditions that the pic was taken in. Does my questions make sense?

dawssvt

Those pictures don't look as bad as I expected them to be. Not bad at all

joshhuntnm

dawssvt wrote:

Those pictures don't look as bad as I expected them to be. Not bad at all

yeah well, these are the better ones, and after a little ps. never again with out someone holding a reflector.

Scott_Quier

Josh - a thought or two that may (or may not ) help:

• Think about turning your subjects (or at least their faces) away from the sun to avoid squinting (see you picuture #1).
• Use some flash to fill the shadows caused by turning the face away from the sun. Or a gold or semi-gold reflector works some but you still have the bright light in the face of your model.
• Shooting later in the day will provide very warm light - gel your flash with a light CTO gel to balance.
• If the sun is behind and off to the side (think 45 degrees +/- off lens axis), it can provide a really good "hair light".

joshhuntnm

Scott_Quier wrote:

Josh - a thought or two that may (or may not ) help:

• Think about turning your subjects (or at least their faces) away from the sun to avoid squinting (see you picuture #1).
• Use some flash to fill the shadows caused by turning the face away from the sun. Or a gold or semi-gold reflector works some but you still have the bright light in the face of your model.
• Shooting later in the day will provide very warm light - gel your flash with a light CTO gel to balance.
• If the sun is behind and off to the side (think 45 degrees +/- off lens axis), it can provide a really good "hair light".

good comments, as always Scott. On most of the shots I used the flash. It was my first time to use the high speed sync. I was surprised that it seemed to have much less effect. I did notice the color balance problem. the gel is a good idea.

the big learning for me. (I was shooting my kids in practice for a cousin I am shooting later today.) I must have someone holding a reflector. I think I am going to try a place that has some shade. I know I need to be careful about blotchy sunlight, but the New Mexico sun where I was was brutal. It did get better as the son set.

I need to shut up; i am rambling.

evoryware

I guess this answers your question on if WB matters if you shoot RAW.
The quality of light during the golden "hour" changes very often.
To achieve what you are looking for:
I would suggest shoot RAW and take a shot of a WB target every few minutes so you can adjust it properly in RAW.


I know a problem I had one day is the sun was getting more red than golden and when I tried to cool it down I noticed the blue sky cast a reflection off my subject.

just an example from last summer. I haven't had this problem again.
Out the camera "golden hour" sun turning red: :wow


balanced a bit but now the reflection of the blue sky: :cry

At this point I'm trying to make it match some of my indoor photos

removed blue:


cooling filter


indoor


I think you can also custom WB the camera every few minutes.
Use a cooling filter on the lens or in PS.
Pick a white balance spot off the clothing.
Adjust for skin tone.

had I used my head my choice would have been take pics of my white reflector every few minutes so I could fix the balance later.

joshhuntnm

good idea about taking pics of the reflector every so many minutes. I will try that.

Scott_Quier

joshhuntnm wrote:

good idea about taking pics of the reflector every so many minutes. I will try that.

Unless you are careful, the white reflector may blow out. If you under-expose by a stop, that will fix the blow-out problem but may introduce color balance issues.

joshhuntnm

Scott_Quier wrote:

Unless you are careful, the white reflector may blow out. If you under-expose by a stop, that will fix the blow-out problem but may introduce color balance issues.

so, better to take something grey?

jeffreaux2

joshhuntnm wrote:

so, better to take something grey?

Yes


Also about golden hour......and portraits......

I generally choose early morning and late afternoon for photographs myself. Bright overcast days are great at anytime.

Early/late daytime shooting generates nice side lighting, long shadows, and usually the light is less intense because it is traveling through more atmosphere than at mid day. The golden color can be a headache to deal with as you have discovered. Scott is pointing you in the right direction for handling that. Using the sun as a backlight, and providing the right fill....from whatever you choose...can be magic!!

evoryware

joshhuntnm wrote:

so, better to take something grey?

In the pictures above, I used a reflector to light the subject, but that was my first such experience and I didn't take a pic of it for white balance.

After that session I took a properly exposed shot of my reflector and used that later to process.
Then I bought a Whibal. Both worked for me, but I prefer the Whibal. You have to expose it properly as Scott says.

joshhuntnm

evoryware wrote:

In the pictures above, I used a reflector to light the subject, but that was my first such experience and I didn't take a pic of it for white balance.

After that session I took a properly exposed shot of my reflector and used that later to process.
Then I bought a Whibal. Both worked for me, but I prefer the Whibal. You have to expose it properly as Scott says.

always more to spend money on.

evoryware

Yeah and no


I've done it with a white envelope from my junk mail.

davidweaver

Hahahahahahahaha.

I've used a white trashbag too. .

evoryware wrote:

Yeah and no


I've done it with a white envelope from my junk mail.

jeffreaux2

A piece of matte white cardstock.

Swartzy

What hasn't been mentioned is don't be shooting in one of the "modes" otherwise your color balance issues will be all over the map. You must shoot in Manual...get an Expodisc or Ed Pierce's calibration target (or any other viable source) and use that for custom WB setting. If you shoot AV, Program, TV, etc. the color temps will change just about every shot.

joshhuntnm

Swartzy wrote:

What hasn't been mentioned is don't be shooting in one of the "modes" otherwise your color balance issues will be all over the map. You must shoot in Manual...get an Expodisc or Ed Pierce's calibration target (or any other viable source) and use that for custom WB setting. If you shoot AV, Program, TV, etc. the color temps will change just about every shot.

I used to think a knew a lot about photography. I am beginning to feel like I don't know anything.

NateWagner

I used to think a knew a lot about photography. I am beginning to feel like I don't know anything.

I know the feeling.

Scott_Quier

joshhuntnm wrote:

I used to think a knew a lot about photography. I am beginning to feel like I don't know anything.

Join the club. For me, the difference between film and digital has been a whole lot more than I bargained for! But, I haven't given up hope yet!

joshhuntnm

Scott_Quier wrote:

Join the club. For me, the difference between film and digital has been a whole lot more than I bargained for! But, I haven't given up hope yet!

You ever tempted to go back to film?

Scott_Quier

joshhuntnm wrote:

You ever tempted to go back to film?

No, even including the cost of camera bodies, memory, computers, software, etc, digital is so much less expensive than film. Plus, from a learning standpoint, digital has a much faster turn-around time. It's all about instant gratification:D

evoryware

Scott_Quier wrote:

No, even including the cost of camera bodies, memory, computers, software, etc, digital is so much less expensive than film. Plus, from a learning standpoint, digital has a much faster turn-around time. It's all about instant gratification:D

Hah, I was going to say, "NO!"
If I had my own darkroom I might say, "No."
But I doubt it!
Film is my last resort backup camera.

davidweaver

Hmmm...
as long as you shoot in RAW it doesn't matter. A couple comments here. If you shoot in a constant defined lighting situation then pull a white-balance on a grey card ( 6 bucks) or for 20x more you can get an expodisc.

BTW: Ken Rockwell does a nice bit about it here:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/expodisc.htm

About shooting in Auto mode: a lot has to do with the camera and the lighting your in. My D300 does a great job in most situation on Auto. If I'm shooting in a nightclub and a band and the bar area and outside and in the alleyway behind the place I have no time to adjust for WB. If I'm doing copy work or studio work with controlled strobes or floods then I'll pull a WB on a grey card to get CONSISTENT (not better) results across the shot.

It's important to understand the difference between consistent color and proper color. If I'm doing a copy job of 250 book pages then consistency is very important. It's all done in manual. I still shoot RAW + Fine.
If I'm shooting in a situation with mixed lighting I will let the camera pick the setting. My D300 does a better job than the D200 most of the time so my workflow is a tiny bit faster. Then again, my D200 did a better job over my D70. I'll guess my future D400 () will do a better job over the D300.

What's proper color in a bar (or any non-controlled situation) anyway? If they have red gels on all their cans on stage is a red saturated image accurate? or is a less saturated image with the light temp blued-up a bit better? What about adjusting color so the white shirt on the singer is actually 250/250/250? Is that correct? My rule of thumb is to make it look good. :-)

Swartzy wrote:

What hasn't been mentioned is don't be shooting in one of the "modes" otherwise your color balance issues will be all over the map. You must shoot in Manual...get an Expodisc or Ed Pierce's calibration target (or any other viable source) and use that for custom WB setting. If you shoot AV, Program, TV, etc. the color temps will change just about every shot.