Faking the golden hour to create a romantic mood

Those of you who follow my blog may have noticed that I have taken up a new challenge for 2021. I have decided to create a new image each week, on a different theme suggested on the website 52frames. A couple of weeks ago the challenge was to create an image in the golden hour. Today I thought I would share with you my journey to create that image.

What is the golden hour?

As I am sure you are aware, the golden hour is that period of time when the sun is low in the sky. This is about an hour after the sun has risen or an hour before it sets. It is a particular favorite time for photographers to take images, as the light is soft and you get a lovely golden glow over your subject.

First attempt

I started the week determined to capture an authentic golden hour. I set out on a Monday morning to see what I could get. It was the worst possible time for me to try. The forecast was for snow. I knew it was probably a lost cause but wanted to go out as I hadn’t taken my camera for a walk in a long time! I figured I might get some nice snowy images instead if the clouds didn’t clear.

Sure enough the clouds didn’t clear, but it was fun to get out.

Second attempt

As the week wore on, I started to realise that I wasn’t going to be able to capture a real golden hour. I needed to create an image that looked like it could have been created at that time.

The weather was pretty miserable. Also, I was restricted as to where I could actually go, due to Lockdown. So I made the decision to try and capture something at home. The obvious choice was to raid the children’s toys. So, with kinetic sand and a couple of figurines in hand, I set about creating my sunset image.

I, fortunately, have a light where I can change the colour temperature, so I set this up at the warmest light. I then pointed it at a gold reflector, which was positioned above the scene. All that was left was to play around with the toys to get the composition I wanted.

I then tweaked some of the levels to enhance the mood.

Faking the Golden Hour

In the end, I was quite pleased with how this image turned out. The idea of this photo challenge is to make you become more creative. Having to come up with alternative ideas, when the obvious idea is not working. This challenge certainly did that for me!

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Sara Sadler

Photographer

I am a fine art photographer based in the South of England. I enjoy sharing my photographic adventures, hints and tips.

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