Golden hour is the hour after sunrise and before sunset, when the light turns soft, warm and directional. It is the single easiest way to make a portrait look expensive without touching a single setting on your flash.
Here are five things I keep in mind every time I book a golden hour session:
1. Shoot with the sun behind your subject to get a natural rim light, then expose for their face and let the background go slightly warm and bright.
2. Move fast – the good light only lasts about twenty minutes, so scout the location earlier in the day and know exactly where you are standing before the sun gets low.
3. Use a reflector or a plain white wall to bounce a little light back into the shadow side of the face.
4. Shoot wide open to blur a busy background into soft color instead of fighting it in the edit.
5. Keep shooting for a few minutes after the sun disappears – the sky often holds the best color just after sunset.