What Golden Hours?

I know, I know.

We’re only supposed to shoot landscapes during those “golden hours” around sunrise and sunset. Yes, I realize that most outdoor magazines won’t even consider a landscape image taken at other times of the day.

Being the stubborn Irishman that I am, I just can’t sit around all day waiting for those “golden hours” to occur. Life is Too Short (LTS) and I shoot landscapes and nature whenever I can find the time. That means shooting whenever I find some decent light and a good subject. It might be 7:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 2:30 PM or 8:00 PM.

Luckily, Texas is a big place and the weather here changes faster than most folks can change their mind. We have some of the biggest skies I’ve seen on four continents and the most wonderful clouds a photographer could ever ask for. With a little luck and a lot of patience, even 5:30 in the afternoon can become a “golden hour”.

PS: It does help to carry around a few key filters like a circular polarizer and a graduated neutral density filter.

Lake Buescher – Smithville, Texas
Copyright © 2010 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 38mm, f/16 for 1/60th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray circular polarizer and 4-stop graduated neutral density filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.