Last Updated on 11/25/2019 by Chris Gampat
The Golden Hour is one of the best times of the day to shoot, so allow us to inspire you with some ideas for your next sunset portrait session!
If you want to play with mood, light, and emotion in your portrait work, shooting during the Golden Hour is guaranteed to give you some great results. It’s been tried and tested by many photographers, and if you’re a budding portrait photographer, it’s your turn to have fun in the sun. With some excellent examples and tips from Imogen and Mark of the Weekly Imogen channel, you’ll surely have some ideas to work with and achieve your own portraits that make the most out of this magical time of the day.
The photos shared by Imogen and Mark in the video above were particularly shot during the sunset, without any fill-in flashes or light modifiers. These show the kind of results you can get if you choose to shoot completely with natural light. The great thing about that is the results look very natural and make you feel like you’re there with the subject at that given time. Still, some may feel that the face needs more illumination in some of the shots. For that, Imogen notes this style is more about capturing a mood or emphasizing emotion over everything else, as there’s always some sense of drama or narrative that comes with the sun setting. Mark also said he doesn’t like shooting with flashes because he wants to make use of the shadows to bring out the emotions in his shots.
However, if you choose to work during the sunset, keep in mind you only have a very small window of opportunity — around 15 to 30 minutes — before you lose all that dramatic light. So, make sure to get to your chosen location beforehand to prepare, check out all the best spots and angles, and start shooting straight away.
Want more photography tips and tricks like this from Imogen and Mark? Check out and subscribe to the Weekly Imogen channel for more of their videos.
Screenshot image from the video