![]() This is especially true when photographing cityscapes as you’ll be using a shallow aperture (f/11 -f/16 range) to get great depth of field and detail – it wouldn’t be out of the question to have a shutter speed of 1 full second or more while working in this aperture range. With this in mind, a tripod is absolutely necessary to not only stabilize your camera, but to help you frame your image more accurately. While you’re not working in complete darkness, there is a substantially lower amount of light to work with – slow enough to blur your image. This translates to longer than normal shutter speeds, meaning motion blur and camera shake come into play. The Beating Hearts of the Buddhas by Stuck in Customs Judging Your ExposureĪ huge concern with photographing the blue hours is your exposure time since you’re working with limited light. Landscapes – Whether you're photographing the rocky coastline or the middle of the desert, the twilight hours are an exceptional, unique way to capture a landscape. The soft lighting of the sky (not to mention the incredible color) creates a surreal environment for truly exceptional portraits – the perfect setting to get creative. Portraits – Another popular subject to capture during the blue hours is portraits. Combine this with lighting from artificial sources (windows, streetlamps, bridge lights, etc.) and you can have a truly outstanding image. As opposed to night shots where the sky is darkened, the blue hour provides much interest in the backdrop in addition to bathing your scene with that fantastic blue/purple hue. While the basic guidelines and principles of photography apply to blue hour photography, there are still common subjects that seem to work very well under this light – three are the most prominent in my mind.Ĭityscapes – Photos of urban areas – especially skylines – benefit greatly from the blue hour. So now that you know what the blue hours are, the more important question remains: How do you capture blue hour photos? Photo by Markus Voetter Choosing A Subject The camera has the ability to pick up tones and colors that you don’t normally see – nature's way of creative lighting. Often – especially with longer exposures – what you see in real life isn’t always what you see on your LCD screen. To get that blue/purple quality to your images, there’s a specific window of opportunity during the twilight times (just before sunrise and after sunset) where your image is flooded with a stunning overcast light, illuminating your scene in an otherworldly fashion. While you've most likely heard of the golden hours – that time right after sunrise or before sunset where the outdoors turn into a golden paradise – the blue hours are also a fantastic time to photograph under dramatic lighting.Ĭhances are you’ve seen examples of blue hour photography but didn’t realize that they were anything more than well-timed night shots.
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