Sean Esopenko

What 1 Minute Can Do: The Golden Hour

May 31, 2010

8:51:55 PM ISO 100, 50mm, 1/25 sec, F/16 (Mouse over to change)

The “Golden Hour” happens one hour after sun-rise and one hour before sunset. This is a point where the sunlight is not too strong, has a warming colour to it and comes in from the side. Last night I sat in a chair taking an exposure of the sunset every minute. I rolled the exposure speed longer and longer as the sun went down, keeping the meter needle centered on area meter mode. There were about 70 photos taken, in all. I liked the lighting quality the most at about 50 minutes before sunset (when these two pictures were taken). The lighting turned very purple during the last 20 minutes of the sunset.

It was amazing to see how much the lighting changed from one minute to the next, too. These two shots are only 1 minute apart yet the ground was lit completely differently. Most of the time this wouldn’t matter because I am usually set to aperature or Tv mode, but it changes the subjet itself drastically.

I would like to do this again, but with a much more interesting subject & composition and compile it into an animation showing the change over time. I was shooting this in a slight drizzle and none of my gear is moisture resistant so I had to do it under our 2nd story deck.

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