Golden hour earned its name both from the colors of sunset and the golden opportunity it offers for capturing portraits with soft, stunning light. But, golden hour’s short-lived time frame means photographers often have to plan out shots in advance and use a number of time-learned tricks. This week, we asked four photographers for advice on making the most of golden hour portraits. Find inspiration in these stunning images by Rebecca Lueck, Emma Marchione, Christie Abascal, and Sammie and Micah Chaffin.

Rebecca Lueck, Becca Jean Photography

When Rebecca Lueck of Becca Jean Photography arrived on location for these maternity golden hour portraits, she was disappointed to find that the usual wildflowers were small and sparse. To bring more of the wildflowers into the frame, she positioned herself low to the ground, an angle that not only highlighted the wildflowers but allowed her to place a golden hour sun in the triangle of her subject’s arm. She used a Canon EOS R5 and Canon EF 35mm f1.4 L II lens for the shot.

“I shoot almost exclusively at golden hour with natural light, and the best advice I can give you is to look for wide open spaces,” she says. “If you want to shoot backlit, you want the sun behind your subject and wide-open sky in front of them to reflect light back onto them. This creates an ideal situation for beautiful skin tones without the need for flash.”

Emma Marchione, Star Crossed Weddings

While many photographers shoot golden hour backlit, defaulting to only one lighting pattern can mean missed opportunities for a range of beautiful shots, like in this one by Emma Marchione of Star Crossed Weddings. Marchione was inspired by the sun, the autumn colors and the wind adding dramatic movement to the mother-to-be’s hair and dress. She captured the shot with the Canon 6D Mark II and a 35mm lens.

“Golden hour moves very quickly. Make sure you give yourself enough time to get your gear ready and scope out the location,” she says. “Be aware that location can also affect golden hour. If you live somewhere where there are mountains, you might have a smaller window to shoot.”

Christie Abascal, Summit and Sur Photography

When this couple wasn’t able to have the adventure elopement they envisioned, they enlisted the help of Christie Abascal of Summit and Sur Photography to recreate an adventure style session. Abascal suggested sunset at Beetle Rock and, inspired by the glowing light, captured this stunning image showing off the vastness of the landscape. She took the shot with the Nikon Z8 and Nikkor 35mm f1.4 lens.

“Golden hour is definitely one of my favorite times to shoot because I just can never get enough of the colors that are cast everywhere during this time of day,” she says. “My best advice to other photographers looking to shoot during this time would be to adjust your white balance in camera accordingly and don’t overexpose those highlights!”

Sammie and Micah Chaffin

After scouting out this iconic Yosemite viewpoint, Sammie and Micah Chaffin of The Chaffins knew they wanted to capture the dramatic drop-off while showing a sense of scale. The sun flare adds further drama to the stunning elopement image, which was shot with the Sony A7 IV and Sony FE 24-70mm f2.8 GM lens.

“Since golden hour is only a short window of time, it’s best to go into it with some of the top photos you want to take in mind,” Micah says. “That will allow you to quickly take photos that you know will be fantastic and still have time to get creative and experiment in the moment with different angles, focal lengths, etc.

“Scout the location in person whenever possible (and if not, then do it virtually – Google Earth Pro and All Trails are two of our favorite resources for this) to determine the best areas and angles. For example, for this elopement, we knew we wanted to photograph the couple on the cliff from this angle at sunset. So then we were able to experiment and get the perfect angle with a beautiful lens flare, and sun rays leading your eye to the golden light on the rock formations overlooking the valley.”

Dig into our Photos of the Day Archives for even more timeless photos, eye-catching portraits and wedding photos. Submit your wedding, editorial, documentary and other interesting imagery (up to five images at a time) to: [email protected].