March 11, 2024 • 27 mins
Get ready to immerse yourself in the magical realms of golden hour and blue hour photography on the Travel and Adventure Photography School podcast.
Join host Robert Massey as he delves into the enchanting periods of the day, offering photographers a wealth of creative opportunities to capture the world in all its breathtaking glory.
Discover the soft, diffused light of golden hour, enhancing colours and textures, perfect for captivating portraits, landscapes, and travel shots. Then, delve into the tranquil atmosphere of blue hour, where soft, diffused light creates a moody, calming ambiance, ideal for unique action shots and serene landscapes.
From planning and scouting locations to essential gear and shooting tips, Robert shares his expertise to help you make the most of these magical hours. Tune in to elevate your adventure and travel photography skills and let your creativity soar.
Join us bi-weekly as we explore the world through the lens, uncovering hidden gems, and sharing insider tips to elevate your photography game. From capturing breathtaking landscapes to immersive cultural portraits, each episode is packed with practical hacks, creative ideas, and inspiring stories to fuel your wanderlust and unleash your creative potential.
Subscribe now and join our global community of adventure seekers and photography enthusiasts on the Travel and Adventure Photography School!
Find all the show notes and connect with Robert:
Website: robertmasseyphotography.ca
Instagram: @robertmasseyphotography
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
This is the travel and adventurephotography school podcast.
As always, I'm your host, RobertMassey.
And I am.
stoked that you are here todayand working on improving your
adventure and travel photographyskills.
On this episode, we're immersingourselves in the magical realms
of golden hour and blue hourphotography.
(00:23):
These two enchanting periods ofthe day, offer photographers, a
wealth of creative opportunitiesto capture the world in all its
breathtaking glory.
All right, let's just get rightinto this.
Let's not waste your time.
So let's begin with golden hour.
Often hailed as the mostpicturesque time for
photography.
Golden hour occurs twice a day,shortly after sunrise.
And just before sunset, when thesun sits low on the horizon
(00:45):
casting a warm golden globeacross the landscape.
During this time, the quality oflight is soft, diffused and
embedded with a radiant warmththat enhances colors and
textures, making it ideal forcreating captivating portraits,
landscapes, and travel shots.
This is often that time you seealmost everyone stopping and
looking around, especially as wecreep closer and closer to
(01:07):
sunset.
And the golden light starts toplay with color in the clouds.
Now it's not always guaranteedto happen.
Overcast days, types of clouds,where the sun sitting on the
horizon.
Other things like that canreally impact the quality of the
light.
But at its best golden hour istruly magical.
So, all right.
Take a step back.
(01:28):
Why is it called golden hour?
Well, during this time at theangle of the sun being lower on
the horizon creates a softdiffuse light.
That's a golden almost honey,like quality.
And the light flattering tonearly everything and brings out
the warmth of an image.
So that's why it's called goldenhour.
It's got that beautiful warmththat tends to make us feel all
warm, fuzzy, and joyful.
And to be totally honest, justlike everybody else.
(01:51):
I love heading out and shootingin the warmth and joy of golden
hour.
There's nothing quite like whena sunset just goes off and then
these beautiful reds and orangesexplode across the sky.
And yeah, there's nothing quitelike watching that occur,
especially if you've been outshooting in the night and the
sunrises starts in that firsttime that the sun pops over the
horizon and golden hour beginsand you get that warmth in the
(02:12):
sunlight, hitting you on theface.
And.
It's a truly majesticexperience.
I have literally run aroundentire lakes while I've been out
backpacking.
Just to hit the Sunbeam.
So, yeah.
I love golden hour and I lovethose kinds of moments.
There's nothing really quitelike them.
But to be totally honest, from aphotographic perspective, there
are a lot of days where I reallyprefer that magic of blue hour.
(02:36):
And to me, blue hour is the truemagic hour.
So blue hour occurs twice a day,just before sunrise and after
sunset.
And during this time, thenatural light takes on a soft
diffused quality casting, aserene and tranquil atmosphere
over the landscape.
Now why is it called blue hour?
Well, it's the sun moves furtherbelow the horizon, the shorter
blue wavelengths of lightscatter more easily in the
(02:58):
Earth's atmosphere.
Which creates a stunning bluecolor palette.
It's not just blues.
It goes across the entire kindof blue moody, cool range.
Cause I've seen.
Dark pinks, deep purples.
Little bit of turquoise going onup there.
Just all sorts of beautiful,cool spectrum colors.
I have seen happening in the skyduring blue hour.
(03:19):
Including one point where I wasout kayaking on a lake and we
could see the bubble of theatmosphere because of the layer
of blues that was going on.
It was this beautiful pink onthe horizon.
That turned to a dark pink to apurple.
To this beautiful, dark blue andjust radiate up into this dark
blue.
And we watch.
(03:40):
The bubble of the atmospherearound us because of blue hour.
I think that's the moment Itruly fell in love with just how
magical this time period is.
One of the coolest things islike blues are known to be a
calming color.
So unlike those intensebrightness of daylight or the
warm tones of golden hour, whichcan make you feel joyful and
happy.
Blue hour offers this uniqueopportunity to capture just with
(04:01):
a calm, soothing ambience andsome more of a moody atmosphere.
And that's because blues tend tocalm us down.
Blues tend to encourage us totake a breath and take a step
back.
And so that's why when you takephotos during blue hour, They're
typically infused with a littleless energy and there's a
little, something more tranquiland calming about them.
(04:22):
That's why it's so cool tojuxtapose these kinds of
situations with high actionshots.
So if you get somebody out, dirtbiking or rock climbing or
hiking, or doing something atnight where you're lighting them
with lights and it's during bluehour, but they're doing
something high active.
It's this really.
Beautiful juxtaposition betweenthe two and it can help your
image stand out.
(04:42):
So using blue hour to help youraction photos get better while
it's way harder to shoot them.
Can be such a cooljuxtaposition.
Now on the non-photo side, bluehour is also when the world,
kind of starts calming down in alot of those outdoor locations.
People start heading in doors,they start heading towards the
light, then warmth of campfiresand just kind of heading out of
these areas back to doing otherthings.
(05:05):
They're a little closer to heatand light and warmth.
This means that frequently.
Blue hour is a lot quieter atthose iconic spots that tend to
be very busy right up to sunset.
wait just 10, 15 minutes afterthe last warm colors of sunset
have disappeared from the skyand you will find 75% of people
have moved on from that spot.
It's remarkable how fast thishappens, and this can give you a
(05:27):
lot more freedom of how and whatyou want to shoot and really
open up your creativity just abit more.
So as people had away.
You get a lot more chance tophotograph these iconic
locations with a lot morefreedom.
You can have a lot more freedomin how and what you want to
shoot, and you can open up yourcreativity just a bit more.
And sometimes I find it a loteasier to shoot when it's a lot
(05:50):
less busy because I can be alittle bit more creative and do
things that are a little bitweirder and probably don't work
to be totally honest.
But I'm not having thosethoughts of am I getting in the
way of somebody else?
Am I.
Honestly being watched andjudged by other people.
It's a big problem with my ownwork.
And the way I think is they, Ifeel like other people are
judging me when I'm out thereworking.
And so I do find it a littleeasier when situations are a lot
(06:12):
quieter to just kind of go aboutmy business, to be able to be a
lot more creative.
Now, honestly, I tend to planfor both golden hour and blue
hour.
To be in the same location atthe same time, because you don't
really have time to movelocations between these two,
unless you're going just five,10 minutes away.
And even then.
That means you might miss thebest part.
(06:33):
Because the best part of goldenhour can frequently happen right
before that sun really turnsinto sunset.
Or like right after sunset andyou've still got that little bit
of beautiful, soft warm light onmountain peaks or on the tops of
buildings, but everything elseis deep and blue and it gives
you this cool cinematic effect.
I tend to just plan to be in thesame spot and in the same
location.
Now by location.
(06:54):
I mean, somewhere like aviewpoint overlooking the city
or a mountain top, I don't meanone spot with the tripod.
Move around in the locationyou've chosen for sure.
Unless you want to capture thatexact same composition in all
time periods, which is a supercool and challenging photo
project.
So take it on if you'reinterested in that case, don't
move that tripod.
But if you're like me bylocation, I mean, you know, the
(07:15):
edge of Moraine lake or the topof a mountain or something like
that.
And then in there move aroundand hunt and try to find the
best compositions that you cantaking into account where the
sunset is going to go, whereit's going to cast its light.
All those kinds of pieces.
Now.
Okay.
The most critical thing toshooting is to plan in advance.
(07:35):
So you can make amazing photosoff the cuff.
But if there's a specific thingyou're trying to capture, or you
want to make the most of in thattime period, it's best to have a
bit of a plan going in.
So let's start with scoutinglocations.
It's essential to researchpotential locations that offer
compelling compositionsinteresting subjects.
Things that you're going to wantto photograph.
So consider factors like thedirection of the light, the
presence of prominent landmarks,natural features and potential
(07:57):
hazards to you, or to blockingoff your light or to not being
able to complete your photographor get in to complete your
photograph.
And while traveling, I reallylike to make a list of the
things I would like to captureand do a bit of pre-scouting on
potential locations and anglesway back before even get on a
plane.
Or before I take off for thatlocation, I'm doing a lot of
pre-work on my computer beforeheading out.
What this means is that I'm notguessing at where I want to go.
(08:20):
When I get somewhere, I'vealready got an idea of the
landmarks and the angles I wantbefore showing up into
destination.
And this can be really critical.
Let's take Banff, for example.
As somebody who's here all thetime and shooting all the time
around here, I'm pretty familiarwith all the really great angles
of locations.
But if you just know, I want aphoto of cascade mountain.
Okay.
That's great.
Cascade is massive.
(08:40):
It can be seen from literallykilometers away.
There are so many differentplaces.
You could take a photo ofcascade from just saying, I want
a photo of cascade mountain isnot super helpful.
What you need to be doing ispicking, say that icon.
You want a photo cascademountain.
Okay.
What's that angle you want onit?
(09:01):
Is it the classic cascade overBAnff Ave, is it looking at it
from.
The backside, which isn't asnormally thought of as people.
Cause it's not as iconic ofview.
Is it coming in from the highwayin that like classical my God,
I'm in Banff kind of moment.
There's all sorts of differentangles you can have on it.
And you can't get between theselocations really during one
golden hour, at least not easilyby any stretch and properly
(09:23):
shoot them.
So you really need to pick thatangle properly before you go,
and you don't want to bedisappointed.
Ask somebody and be like I wanta photo of this.
And they send you to a totallydifferent spot that isn't nearly
as good an angle as the photothat you'd seen or the thought
that you had in your head.
So.
Take that time to really get toknow what angle you want as
well.
Look up other photos forinspiration.
And narrow in on what it is thatyou exactly want before you get
(09:47):
to your destination.
Now.
Don't take this as gospel.
Sometimes you're going to get toa destination and fall in love
with another feature, like abuilding or a landscape.
And in that case, make it yourfocus.
We aren't obligated to capturethose iconic spots in a
destination.
Most of the time it's best tofollow your artistic gut.
And I had this happen when wefirst landed in Paris.
(10:10):
Oh.
Going nine years ago.
Now when we were there.
And.
We got there.
It was a beautiful sunset.
We were hanging out.
We were heading off to aspecific spot to take photos of
the arc de Triomphe.
And then we came across thisstatue in a park that was on its
way over there.
And I just fell in love with thestatue, the way the light was
(10:31):
playing with it, how the cloudslooked above it.
And I ended up just hanging outthere.
We ran a time-lapse with theclouds running behind it, and
the way that the light waschanging across the statue.
And I ran around with my othercamera taking a few different
angles on it as well, makingsure to.
Stay out of my time-lapse, so Ididn't have to do a lot of
editing.
And we totally missed the Arc deTriomph for that night.
But those photos I got thatfirst night, we were in Paris
(10:53):
was some of my favorites that Ishot and I absolutely loved the
way they feel, the way the lightis just everything about them.
And so I'm super stoked thatactually missed the arc of that
night.
But those photos from that firstnight, just bring me so much
warmer than happiness.
And so I'm so happy that we didthat and skipped out on that
iconic golden hour shot that Ihad been planning.
So.
Definitely plan in advance, butleave yourself.
(11:15):
Some grace to be able tocapture.
What your artistic side istelling you and what you're
feeling and to listen.
To yourself.
Don't listen to Instagram.
Don't listen to what everybodyelse is saying.
Listen to what you are saying toyou.
While, obviously being a goodtraveler and respecting that
area and the people who arethere.
Now to aid in your locationscouting efforts, there are
(11:35):
several helpful apps availablethat can provide valuable
information about the sun'sposition in the sky.
So apps like PhotoPills and sunsurveyor allow you to visualize
the sun's trajectory throughoutthe day, helping you plan your
shoot with precision.
These apps also provide detailsabout sunrise, sunset golden
hour, blue hour times, allowingyou to really time your shoot
accordingly.
So one of the great things tolook at at this point in the
(11:57):
planning process is where thelight will be coming from on
your intended subject.
Will it be illuminated by goldenhour?
Will the sun be behind it?
Will there be shadows across it?
Because the sun has droppedbehind some larger objects.
I'm thinking there's a lot ofbowls in the Canadian Rockies.
Where it's really only brightfor a few hours in the day.
Especially during winter.
(12:17):
And by the time golden hourrolls around, there is no light
in that bowl anymore.
It's totally shaded in andshadowed.
And so you actually won't getgolden hour down there.
The sun is way behind themountains at that point.
So, this is when you really wantto know where the sun is going
to be coming from.
And certain locations lookamazing, no matter what time of
day you are there.
And other locations really doneed to be at a certain time
(12:39):
period.
So make sure that you're gettingto a spot when it has the
optimal light bathing over it,especially if you only have the
chance to go once.
If you can go multiple times.
I love seeing locations wheresomeone's like, that's a sunrise
spot.
And I love going there at sunsetand seeing how it changes and
how, it shifts and all thosekind of things I have done that.
I think I have probably seenVermilion Lakes here in Banff.
(13:00):
Literally at every hour of theday, I'm talking midnight.
4:00 AM.
Four in the afternoon, everyhour of the day, I have seen
Vermilion lakes and.
It's beautiful.
No matter what time period,we're there in.
So when people say that's asunrise location, Yes, because
if the sun does go off, it isphenomenal.
But the way I have seen thelight play across Rundel's peak
(13:23):
when it's setting, because it's.
Just bathing it in this directintense orange beam is also
absolutely stunning.
If you have a chance to gomultiple times, that's amazing.
But if you don't.
Really make sure you are gettingto that spot for the optimal
time period.
Now I personally tend to use sunsurveyor to quickly get an idea
where the sun is going to be inthe sky.
When I'm out on location.
(13:43):
I've used this for years beforeI picked up the PhotoPills app.
And so it's still just part ofmy habit and I find the
tracking.
To be really accurate and reallyeasy to use when I'm standing
somewhere.
And then I tend to use photopills to help plan all of my
shoots in advance.
So this is much more of aplanning before I get there kind
of situation and sun surveyortends to help me a lot once I'm
actually there.
So PhotoPills lets you seethings like shadows and the
(14:05):
direction from the sun, whichcan really help, you know, if a
location is going to work out ornot.
So during the planning process,I also spend time figuring out
how long it's going to take meto reach a destination because
honestly too often, I'veunderestimated those travel
times and missed out on asunrise or be driving to a
location at the sunset goes off.
So it's best to plan yourtimeline at this point as well.
So when you're planning thattimeline, remember the length of
(14:27):
golden hour varies greatlyaround the world.
It's called golden hour.
It's not an hour everywhere.
It definitely is not an hour outhere right now.
It tends to only be about 30minutes at the moment.
So really you need to thinkabout that time period and
really know how long golden houris going to actually last,
wherever you're going.
And then figure out how long itwill take you to get to that
exact location.
(14:47):
So including plenty of time forgetting stuck in traffic and
that time, especially if you'rehiking, you're heading in
somewhere, lots of time to headinto that location.
So you're there.
Not just as golden hour starts,you really need to get there.
Well, before golden hour startsthat you have a chance to scout
the location, look for where thesun's going to go line up your
shot.
You're probably going to becompeting with some other
photographers as well,especially in these iconic
(15:07):
destinations.
So if you want to make sure youhave your spot that you really
want to capture for golden hour.
You need to get there a littlebit earlier, scouted out and
lock yourself in where you wantto be.
Now, like I was saying before, Ialso tend to prepare how I'm
going to get to a specificangle.
So a lot of the times I'velooked up angles of iconic
things or places that I'vereally wanted to capture, and
(15:29):
I've gone looking for differentphotos of them and then try to
figure out where that photo istaken from so that I actually
know the location to go to.
Because.
It's great to just show up to alocation and be able to explore
and really dive in.
But I might not be at the rightspot to capture exactly the
angle I was thinking about.
This goes back to what we weresaying about cascade mountain
just a few minutes ago, but youmight not get to the exact angle
(15:52):
that you're looking for.
If you just kind of show upbecause there could be so many
different places to go to.
Take that time research, some ofthose angles research, some of
those places that you want to goand then figure out how you're
actually going to get to thatangle.
It's not just about getting tothat spot.
You also need to know how toactually get to that angle
itself.
So I need to know what trail amI taking when I get there?
Do I head to the right or theleft?
(16:14):
Is there a staircase I need togo up?
Is that angle actually frominside of a building or a
location that I may not be ableto access without asking
somebody in advance?
If there's an angle you fall inlove with or an angle, you can
see while you're out and youthink it would be amazing?
You might need to do a littlebit of pre-planning and ask some
questions to see if you can getin somewhere.
And if someone doesn't you in,don't be rude about it.
(16:35):
Don't be mean.
Just keep going on with yourlife, jump to your next idea and
your next idea, and just keepgoing.
Don't let it get you down.
So there's all sorts of thingsthat can prevent you from
getting to that specific angle.
So if you don't figure that outin advance, There might be some
barriers to getting the photoyou're dreaming about.
All right.
So that's your pre planningphase.
It's a lot.
It seems like, but honestly, Ifind it really fun because you
get to dream about a location.
(16:56):
You're going to, you get tostart setting up some details
and ideas and.
You get to really start delvinginto your trip or delving into
something creative andphotographically creative, which
is to me, a lot of fun.
Now while you're in yourplanning stage, there's also
obviously the gear that you needto think about.
Now, the gear can rangemassively.
It depends on how you like toshoot what you like to shoot.
(17:17):
What you're going there toshoot.
Gear can change so muchdepending on your shooting style
and what you're aiming to shoot.
So this list is not by any meansextensive or exhaustive, and
this list is also not meant asa, you must have this to do
this.
These are the things I tend tothink about a lot when I'm
heading out to shoot golden hourand blue hour.
And that's because I tend to mixbetween a lot of travel
(17:40):
photography and a lot of action,adventure photography, and then
some landscape stuff as well.
And so I try to bring out somegear that can kind of cover off
all three of those pieces.
Now you could honestly just goup with your camera of choice
and do a great, the lake qualityis such that it makes for really
easy photography, but this listis just some extra things to
(18:01):
think about.
Beyond the obvious, like yourcamera, plenty of batteries and
storage and something warm tothrow on when the sunsets,
because it can actually getquite cold.
All of a sudden.
So some of the other things Itend to think about is the
lenses, a wide aperture lens,especially for blue hour can
really enhance your photography.
Think something 2.8 or lowerperferably, you can get down to
like 1.2.
That's amazing.
(18:22):
Blue hour gets dark ratherquickly, to be honest, meaning
you're going to need to pumpthat ISO and a fast lens can
give you more light as well asproviding that beautiful dreamy
fall off.
And that really looks amazingduring the moody tones of blue
hour.
And when things start to get alittle bit darker and a little
bit more mysterious feeling, soa fast lens can actually really
enhance what you're shooting andit can mean that you don't
always have to stabilize yourcamera as much.
(18:44):
You can get away with shootingby hand a little bit more and
giving yourself a little bitmore flow, especially if you
don't love shooting on a tripod,which is my second thing that I
always look at is the tripod.
So if you're looking to createthe best landscape shots you're
will need a tripod.
You don't have a choice, thebest landscape shots come from
being set down on a tripod.
90% of the time.
(19:04):
Now we're talking like artsy.
High-end spectacular.
Shots where you're going to bedoing some focus stacking, and
you're going to be blendingexposures and doing all those
kinds of things.
You really do need a tripod,but.
If you aren't doing somethinglike that, a tripod isn't
actually a necessity.
But you'll just need to realizethat you'll need to bring in
more lights some other way thandropping your shutter because
(19:25):
admittedly, at a certain point,you can't keep dropping your
shutter down and handholding itand.
Getting usable images.
So things like pumping your iso,opening up your aperture.
Are going to be what youranswers are.
If you can't set it up on atripod and throw the shutter
speed down as low as you want itto go or as slow as you want it
to go.
So just be prepared for thatoutcome.
If you can't stabilize yourcamera or you don't want to
stabilize your camera.
(19:45):
So number three, remote shutterrelease.
Well, not strictly necessary.
A remote shutter release orcable release can be useful for
minimizing camera shake whentriggering the shutter,
particularly during longexposures.
This is because when you hit theshutter button, you are
introducing shake through thecamera.
And every time you touch thecamera, you shake it.
Even a little bit, and that canjust introduce a little bit of
(20:06):
detail being thrown off in yourimage.
So if you don't have to touchyour camera to set the shutter
off, that is spectacular,especially if you're doing
really long exposurephotography.
One of the ways I get aroundthis when my apple and connect,
or when I forget the trigger athome or, you know, there's all
sorts of reasons, the stuff likethat can happen pretty quickly.
Is to set the ten second timer.
(20:26):
I have found the three secondtimer works.
Okay.
But.
I tend to find the 10 secondsjust guarantees that I'm not
going to be having some shakeintroduced, especially if I'm
trying to run something for 3,4, 5 minutes, then I really
don't want to touch that cameraat all in advance.
If I can.
All right.
Number four lens filters.
So bring along a polarizingfilter.
(20:47):
So reduce glare and enhancethose colors.
Polarizers are my top suggestedaccessory for your camera.
Get a circular polarizer.
And neutral density filters aregreat for controlling exposure
and achieving long exposures,especially during golden hour
and blue hour, which really letsyou drag those clouds or the
water and all those kinds ofbeautiful things.
They're also really great forbalancing the sky out so you can
(21:08):
use graduated neutral densityfilters to darken the sky, but
leave your foregroundunaffected.
So all sorts of beautifulstacking methods.
And if you take a look at prolandscape photographers, their
sets for filters can just bephenomenal to look at and just
the way they've set them up andthe way they build them out.
And so well-worth, if you'relooking to get in deep into that
artsy style of landscapephotography and travel
(21:28):
photography.
You're going to have to startreally learning about neutral
density filters.
All right.
Number five, flashlight orheadlamp, especially for after
blue hour ends.
It may be getting dark reallyquickly, especially if you're
headed back out to somewhere.
If you've got a bit of a walkand you're not in a city, you're
going to need some sort oflight.
So I personally prefer aheadlamp has at least my hands
free to do other things likecarrying my gear.
(21:50):
And I despise relying on my cellphone for a torch as I want that
battery safe for pretty muchanything else, like potentially
saving my life if somethinghappens on the way home.
So headlamp.
All the way.
I always throw it into my bag.
If there's even the slightest ofchance that I'm going to think
about staying out late.
All right.
That is your prep period.
(22:11):
So that's getting your cameraequipment ready.
And what you're thinking about,that's getting yourself prepared
before you actually get out forgolden hour blue hour.
Now some tips for actuallyshooting during this time
period.
This isn't going to get too indepth into anything specific
about camera tips, because ithonestly depends on what your
subject is and how you're tryingto shoot and all sorts of other
pieces in there that I can'tgive you advice on without us
(22:33):
chatting directly in person andbeing in a situation.
So.
Instead of relying on that.
I'm just going to go back to acouple of composition tips.
That I find are incrediblyhelpful in these situations.
Don't just get wrapped up inwatching the pretty colors from
a sunset and watching where thesun goes down to them.
Just stare that way.
I look at where the light ishitting.
(22:54):
Let's say that it's sunrise andthe lights just coming up on the
horizon.
If you turn and look at wherethat light's hitting, especially
in the mountains, you cansometimes make out this
beautiful Reddy orange glow onthe mountain peaks.
That Alpenglow is something thatjust warms my heart and warms
all of me whenever I see it.
Don't just look at where thelight is and where the sun is.
(23:15):
Look all around.
You look for all the differentways that it's playing with
things you might be amazed bywhat you can see.
Second thing.
Don't just go to where everybodyelse is.
And this is slightly a pet peeveof mine as well.
I was out shooting.
Early one morning when it wasnegative 40 out here, I was out
on Vermilion lakes and I was bymyself.
And there was kilometers worthof space around me on this lake.
(23:38):
And another photographer cameby.
And set up.
Literally within like elbow roombeside me.
He just copied exactly what Iwas doing.
And honestly, the angle I had onRundle wasn't anything special.
I was there to film a video andit worked really well for the
angle I was looking for for thisvideo.
But photographically wasn'tactually that interesting.
(24:01):
Don't just go to right wheresomebody else has set up their
camera and set up their tripodand be like, oh, this must be
amazing.
I'm not the most fabulouslandscape photographer by any
stretch of the imagination.
There are so many people who arebetter than me and when I see
people sitting up beside me,it's like, all right, you do
you, but I hope that you're alsotrusting your own artistic
vision here, you want to be inthis spot because that's where
your photographic eye is tellingyou to go.
(24:22):
Not just because I'm a dude witha camera and to tripod and it
looks fancy and amazing.
Don't just go to where the otherphotographers are, if that's
where you want to be.
And you know that, and that'syour vision that's calling out
to you.
Hell yeah.
Go for it.
But if that's not your visionand that's not where you
thinking about being then gosomewhere else, go to where your
vision is telling you.
And don't worry about what thoseother photographers are saying.
(24:42):
And yes.
I realized easier said thandone.
But.
Something that can really helpyou is by just tuning into your
own artistic vision.
Alright.
And the last thing.
Don't leave too early.
I found so many times that I'vebeen out shooting sunrise and
like, oh, I've got a meeting inan hour.
I need to head out and we willgo back and be just a little bit
early, make some coffee orwhatever.
(25:04):
And then as soon as I packed mytripod and back in the car, the
sun just goes off.
And it didn't look like it wasgoing to be an amazing sunrise
and then all of a sudden, poof,there it is.
And it's beautiful andspectacular.
So just wait around a little bitlonger.
And you will get to a pointwhere you can kind of tell if
it's gonna work or it's notgonna work, especially if you
get.
To live in a destination toreally get to know that area.
(25:24):
But if you're visitingsomewhere, you've taken the time
and effort to be there.
Don't like wrap up your shootsuddenly just because it's like,
oh, the sunset didn't happenyet.
Or oh, like blue hour is notlooking great right now.
Wait.
Spend 10 minutes.
Talk to somebody, talk to theperson you're traveling with,
or, you know, quickly, take yourgear into the cafe beside you
and grab a drink and then runback out again, whatever it is.
(25:47):
Just wait, be there and just,just wait it out a little bit,
have a little bit of patienceand see if something happens.
Awesome.
And the last piece of advice Ihave for you is just don't get
wrapped up in only shootingduring golden hour and blue hour
and all that kind of stuff.
Great photos happen at all timesof day.
Make the most of the situationwhen you're in it, if something
(26:07):
catches your eye, if yourartistic instinct says,
photograph that.
Do it.
Don't always just wait for thelight to be perfect.
There's no such thing.
Listen to what your artisticvision says.
So while blue hour and goldenhour.
Amazing.
Make sure that you're out therefor them.
Make sure that you're shootingduring them.
Just also make sure that you'reout exploring all paths of
capturing amazing images thatfulfill your artistic vision.
(26:30):
And then just let yourcreativity soar.
Alright, thanks so much fortuning in today and doing what
you can to improve yourphotography.
I love talking about these kindsof things.
I that's why I do this.
It's just enjoyable for me.
And just talking about thethings that I've learned and the
things that I've learned fromthe people who reach out to me,
who.
There are some spectacularphotographers out there.
(26:51):
Y'all make me jealous with howgreat you are.
Keep it up.
And if you've got something youwant to learn or have a question
or anything like that, reachout.
I love having theseconversations and I'd love to
hear from you so you can connectwith me on Instagram at Robert
Massey photography, which I donot update nearly as often as I
should or visit my website atrobertmasseyphotography.ca reach
out that way.
Yeah, I always enjoy hearingfrom my fellow photography
(27:12):
enthusiasts and sharing in ourcollective passion for capturing
this big, beautiful world ofours.
All right.
Let's get out there.
Let's adventure.
Bye for now.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
This is the travel and adventurephotography school podcast.
As always, I'm your host, RobertMassey.
And I am.
stoked that you are here todayand working on improving your
adventure and travel photographyskills.
On this episode, we're immersingourselves in the magical realms
of golden hour and blue hourphotography.
(00:23):
These two enchanting periods ofthe day, offer photographers, a
wealth of creative opportunitiesto capture the world in all its
breathtaking glory.
All right, let's just get rightinto this.
Let's not waste your time.
So let's begin with golden hour.
Often hailed as the mostpicturesque time for
photography.
Golden hour occurs twice a day,shortly after sunrise.
And just before sunset, when thesun sits low on the horizon
(00:45):
casting a warm golden globeacross the landscape.
During this time, the quality oflight is soft, diffused and
embedded with a radiant warmththat enhances colors and
textures, making it ideal forcreating captivating portraits,
landscapes, and travel shots.
This is often that time you seealmost everyone stopping and
looking around, especially as wecreep closer and closer to
(01:07):
sunset.
And the golden light starts toplay with color in the clouds.
Now it's not always guaranteedto happen.
Overcast days, types of clouds,where the sun sitting on the
horizon.
Other things like that canreally impact the quality of the
light.
But at its best golden hour istruly magical.
So, all right.
Take a step back.
(01:28):
Why is it called golden hour?
Well, during this time at theangle of the sun being lower on
the horizon creates a softdiffuse light.
That's a golden almost honey,like quality.
And the light flattering tonearly everything and brings out
the warmth of an image.
So that's why it's called goldenhour.
It's got that beautiful warmththat tends to make us feel all
warm, fuzzy, and joyful.
And to be totally honest, justlike everybody else.
(01:51):
I love heading out and shootingin the warmth and joy of golden
hour.
There's nothing quite like whena sunset just goes off and then
these beautiful reds and orangesexplode across the sky.
And yeah, there's nothing quitelike watching that occur,
especially if you've been outshooting in the night and the
sunrises starts in that firsttime that the sun pops over the
horizon and golden hour beginsand you get that warmth in the
(02:12):
sunlight, hitting you on theface.
And.
It's a truly majesticexperience.
I have literally run aroundentire lakes while I've been out
backpacking.
Just to hit the Sunbeam.
So, yeah.
I love golden hour and I lovethose kinds of moments.
There's nothing really quitelike them.
But to be totally honest, from aphotographic perspective, there
are a lot of days where I reallyprefer that magic of blue hour.
(02:36):
And to me, blue hour is the truemagic hour.
So blue hour occurs twice a day,just before sunrise and after
sunset.
And during this time, thenatural light takes on a soft
diffused quality casting, aserene and tranquil atmosphere
over the landscape.
Now why is it called blue hour?
Well, it's the sun moves furtherbelow the horizon, the shorter
blue wavelengths of lightscatter more easily in the
(02:58):
Earth's atmosphere.
Which creates a stunning bluecolor palette.
It's not just blues.
It goes across the entire kindof blue moody, cool range.
Cause I've seen.
Dark pinks, deep purples.
Little bit of turquoise going onup there.
Just all sorts of beautiful,cool spectrum colors.
I have seen happening in the skyduring blue hour.
(03:19):
Including one point where I wasout kayaking on a lake and we
could see the bubble of theatmosphere because of the layer
of blues that was going on.
It was this beautiful pink onthe horizon.
That turned to a dark pink to apurple.
To this beautiful, dark blue andjust radiate up into this dark
blue.
And we watch.
(03:40):
The bubble of the atmospherearound us because of blue hour.
I think that's the moment Itruly fell in love with just how
magical this time period is.
One of the coolest things islike blues are known to be a
calming color.
So unlike those intensebrightness of daylight or the
warm tones of golden hour, whichcan make you feel joyful and
happy.
Blue hour offers this uniqueopportunity to capture just with
(04:01):
a calm, soothing ambience andsome more of a moody atmosphere.
And that's because blues tend tocalm us down.
Blues tend to encourage us totake a breath and take a step
back.
And so that's why when you takephotos during blue hour, They're
typically infused with a littleless energy and there's a
little, something more tranquiland calming about them.
(04:22):
That's why it's so cool tojuxtapose these kinds of
situations with high actionshots.
So if you get somebody out, dirtbiking or rock climbing or
hiking, or doing something atnight where you're lighting them
with lights and it's during bluehour, but they're doing
something high active.
It's this really.
Beautiful juxtaposition betweenthe two and it can help your
image stand out.
(04:42):
So using blue hour to help youraction photos get better while
it's way harder to shoot them.
Can be such a cooljuxtaposition.
Now on the non-photo side, bluehour is also when the world,
kind of starts calming down in alot of those outdoor locations.
People start heading in doors,they start heading towards the
light, then warmth of campfiresand just kind of heading out of
these areas back to doing otherthings.
(05:05):
They're a little closer to heatand light and warmth.
This means that frequently.
Blue hour is a lot quieter atthose iconic spots that tend to
be very busy right up to sunset.
wait just 10, 15 minutes afterthe last warm colors of sunset
have disappeared from the skyand you will find 75% of people
have moved on from that spot.
It's remarkable how fast thishappens, and this can give you a
(05:27):
lot more freedom of how and whatyou want to shoot and really
open up your creativity just abit more.
So as people had away.
You get a lot more chance tophotograph these iconic
locations with a lot morefreedom.
You can have a lot more freedomin how and what you want to
shoot, and you can open up yourcreativity just a bit more.
And sometimes I find it a loteasier to shoot when it's a lot
(05:50):
less busy because I can be alittle bit more creative and do
things that are a little bitweirder and probably don't work
to be totally honest.
But I'm not having thosethoughts of am I getting in the
way of somebody else?
Am I.
Honestly being watched andjudged by other people.
It's a big problem with my ownwork.
And the way I think is they, Ifeel like other people are
judging me when I'm out thereworking.
And so I do find it a littleeasier when situations are a lot
(06:12):
quieter to just kind of go aboutmy business, to be able to be a
lot more creative.
Now, honestly, I tend to planfor both golden hour and blue
hour.
To be in the same location atthe same time, because you don't
really have time to movelocations between these two,
unless you're going just five,10 minutes away.
And even then.
That means you might miss thebest part.
(06:33):
Because the best part of goldenhour can frequently happen right
before that sun really turnsinto sunset.
Or like right after sunset andyou've still got that little bit
of beautiful, soft warm light onmountain peaks or on the tops of
buildings, but everything elseis deep and blue and it gives
you this cool cinematic effect.
I tend to just plan to be in thesame spot and in the same
location.
Now by location.
(06:54):
I mean, somewhere like aviewpoint overlooking the city
or a mountain top, I don't meanone spot with the tripod.
Move around in the locationyou've chosen for sure.
Unless you want to capture thatexact same composition in all
time periods, which is a supercool and challenging photo
project.
So take it on if you'reinterested in that case, don't
move that tripod.
But if you're like me bylocation, I mean, you know, the
(07:15):
edge of Moraine lake or the topof a mountain or something like
that.
And then in there move aroundand hunt and try to find the
best compositions that you cantaking into account where the
sunset is going to go, whereit's going to cast its light.
All those kinds of pieces.
Now.
Okay.
The most critical thing toshooting is to plan in advance.
(07:35):
So you can make amazing photosoff the cuff.
But if there's a specific thingyou're trying to capture, or you
want to make the most of in thattime period, it's best to have a
bit of a plan going in.
So let's start with scoutinglocations.
It's essential to researchpotential locations that offer
compelling compositionsinteresting subjects.
Things that you're going to wantto photograph.
So consider factors like thedirection of the light, the
presence of prominent landmarks,natural features and potential
(07:57):
hazards to you, or to blockingoff your light or to not being
able to complete your photographor get in to complete your
photograph.
And while traveling, I reallylike to make a list of the
things I would like to captureand do a bit of pre-scouting on
potential locations and anglesway back before even get on a
plane.
Or before I take off for thatlocation, I'm doing a lot of
pre-work on my computer beforeheading out.
What this means is that I'm notguessing at where I want to go.
(08:20):
When I get somewhere, I'vealready got an idea of the
landmarks and the angles I wantbefore showing up into
destination.
And this can be really critical.
Let's take Banff, for example.
As somebody who's here all thetime and shooting all the time
around here, I'm pretty familiarwith all the really great angles
of locations.
But if you just know, I want aphoto of cascade mountain.
Okay.
That's great.
Cascade is massive.
(08:40):
It can be seen from literallykilometers away.
There are so many differentplaces.
You could take a photo ofcascade from just saying, I want
a photo of cascade mountain isnot super helpful.
What you need to be doing ispicking, say that icon.
You want a photo cascademountain.
Okay.
What's that angle you want onit?
(09:01):
Is it the classic cascade overBAnff Ave, is it looking at it
from.
The backside, which isn't asnormally thought of as people.
Cause it's not as iconic ofview.
Is it coming in from the highwayin that like classical my God,
I'm in Banff kind of moment.
There's all sorts of differentangles you can have on it.
And you can't get between theselocations really during one
golden hour, at least not easilyby any stretch and properly
(09:23):
shoot them.
So you really need to pick thatangle properly before you go,
and you don't want to bedisappointed.
Ask somebody and be like I wanta photo of this.
And they send you to a totallydifferent spot that isn't nearly
as good an angle as the photothat you'd seen or the thought
that you had in your head.
So.
Take that time to really get toknow what angle you want as
well.
Look up other photos forinspiration.
And narrow in on what it is thatyou exactly want before you get
(09:47):
to your destination.
Now.
Don't take this as gospel.
Sometimes you're going to get toa destination and fall in love
with another feature, like abuilding or a landscape.
And in that case, make it yourfocus.
We aren't obligated to capturethose iconic spots in a
destination.
Most of the time it's best tofollow your artistic gut.
And I had this happen when wefirst landed in Paris.
(10:10):
Oh.
Going nine years ago.
Now when we were there.
And.
We got there.
It was a beautiful sunset.
We were hanging out.
We were heading off to aspecific spot to take photos of
the arc de Triomphe.
And then we came across thisstatue in a park that was on its
way over there.
And I just fell in love with thestatue, the way the light was
(10:31):
playing with it, how the cloudslooked above it.
And I ended up just hanging outthere.
We ran a time-lapse with theclouds running behind it, and
the way that the light waschanging across the statue.
And I ran around with my othercamera taking a few different
angles on it as well, makingsure to.
Stay out of my time-lapse, so Ididn't have to do a lot of
editing.
And we totally missed the Arc deTriomph for that night.
But those photos I got thatfirst night, we were in Paris
(10:53):
was some of my favorites that Ishot and I absolutely loved the
way they feel, the way the lightis just everything about them.
And so I'm super stoked thatactually missed the arc of that
night.
But those photos from that firstnight, just bring me so much
warmer than happiness.
And so I'm so happy that we didthat and skipped out on that
iconic golden hour shot that Ihad been planning.
So.
Definitely plan in advance, butleave yourself.
(11:15):
Some grace to be able tocapture.
What your artistic side istelling you and what you're
feeling and to listen.
To yourself.
Don't listen to Instagram.
Don't listen to what everybodyelse is saying.
Listen to what you are saying toyou.
While, obviously being a goodtraveler and respecting that
area and the people who arethere.
Now to aid in your locationscouting efforts, there are
(11:35):
several helpful apps availablethat can provide valuable
information about the sun'sposition in the sky.
So apps like PhotoPills and sunsurveyor allow you to visualize
the sun's trajectory throughoutthe day, helping you plan your
shoot with precision.
These apps also provide detailsabout sunrise, sunset golden
hour, blue hour times, allowingyou to really time your shoot
accordingly.
So one of the great things tolook at at this point in the
(11:57):
planning process is where thelight will be coming from on
your intended subject.
Will it be illuminated by goldenhour?
Will the sun be behind it?
Will there be shadows across it?
Because the sun has droppedbehind some larger objects.
I'm thinking there's a lot ofbowls in the Canadian Rockies.
Where it's really only brightfor a few hours in the day.
Especially during winter.
(12:17):
And by the time golden hourrolls around, there is no light
in that bowl anymore.
It's totally shaded in andshadowed.
And so you actually won't getgolden hour down there.
The sun is way behind themountains at that point.
So, this is when you really wantto know where the sun is going
to be coming from.
And certain locations lookamazing, no matter what time of
day you are there.
And other locations really doneed to be at a certain time
(12:39):
period.
So make sure that you're gettingto a spot when it has the
optimal light bathing over it,especially if you only have the
chance to go once.
If you can go multiple times.
I love seeing locations wheresomeone's like, that's a sunrise
spot.
And I love going there at sunsetand seeing how it changes and
how, it shifts and all thosekind of things I have done that.
I think I have probably seenVermilion Lakes here in Banff.
(13:00):
Literally at every hour of theday, I'm talking midnight.
4:00 AM.
Four in the afternoon, everyhour of the day, I have seen
Vermilion lakes and.
It's beautiful.
No matter what time period,we're there in.
So when people say that's asunrise location, Yes, because
if the sun does go off, it isphenomenal.
But the way I have seen thelight play across Rundel's peak
(13:23):
when it's setting, because it's.
Just bathing it in this directintense orange beam is also
absolutely stunning.
If you have a chance to gomultiple times, that's amazing.
But if you don't.
Really make sure you are gettingto that spot for the optimal
time period.
Now I personally tend to use sunsurveyor to quickly get an idea
where the sun is going to be inthe sky.
When I'm out on location.
(13:43):
I've used this for years beforeI picked up the PhotoPills app.
And so it's still just part ofmy habit and I find the
tracking.
To be really accurate and reallyeasy to use when I'm standing
somewhere.
And then I tend to use photopills to help plan all of my
shoots in advance.
So this is much more of aplanning before I get there kind
of situation and sun surveyortends to help me a lot once I'm
actually there.
So PhotoPills lets you seethings like shadows and the
(14:05):
direction from the sun, whichcan really help, you know, if a
location is going to work out ornot.
So during the planning process,I also spend time figuring out
how long it's going to take meto reach a destination because
honestly too often, I'veunderestimated those travel
times and missed out on asunrise or be driving to a
location at the sunset goes off.
So it's best to plan yourtimeline at this point as well.
So when you're planning thattimeline, remember the length of
(14:27):
golden hour varies greatlyaround the world.
It's called golden hour.
It's not an hour everywhere.
It definitely is not an hour outhere right now.
It tends to only be about 30minutes at the moment.
So really you need to thinkabout that time period and
really know how long golden houris going to actually last,
wherever you're going.
And then figure out how long itwill take you to get to that
exact location.
(14:47):
So including plenty of time forgetting stuck in traffic and
that time, especially if you'rehiking, you're heading in
somewhere, lots of time to headinto that location.
So you're there.
Not just as golden hour starts,you really need to get there.
Well, before golden hour startsthat you have a chance to scout
the location, look for where thesun's going to go line up your
shot.
You're probably going to becompeting with some other
photographers as well,especially in these iconic
(15:07):
destinations.
So if you want to make sure youhave your spot that you really
want to capture for golden hour.
You need to get there a littlebit earlier, scouted out and
lock yourself in where you wantto be.
Now, like I was saying before, Ialso tend to prepare how I'm
going to get to a specificangle.
So a lot of the times I'velooked up angles of iconic
things or places that I'vereally wanted to capture, and
(15:29):
I've gone looking for differentphotos of them and then try to
figure out where that photo istaken from so that I actually
know the location to go to.
Because.
It's great to just show up to alocation and be able to explore
and really dive in.
But I might not be at the rightspot to capture exactly the
angle I was thinking about.
This goes back to what we weresaying about cascade mountain
just a few minutes ago, but youmight not get to the exact angle
(15:52):
that you're looking for.
If you just kind of show upbecause there could be so many
different places to go to.
Take that time research, some ofthose angles research, some of
those places that you want to goand then figure out how you're
actually going to get to thatangle.
It's not just about getting tothat spot.
You also need to know how toactually get to that angle
itself.
So I need to know what trail amI taking when I get there?
Do I head to the right or theleft?
(16:14):
Is there a staircase I need togo up?
Is that angle actually frominside of a building or a
location that I may not be ableto access without asking
somebody in advance?
If there's an angle you fall inlove with or an angle, you can
see while you're out and youthink it would be amazing?
You might need to do a littlebit of pre-planning and ask some
questions to see if you can getin somewhere.
And if someone doesn't you in,don't be rude about it.
(16:35):
Don't be mean.
Just keep going on with yourlife, jump to your next idea and
your next idea, and just keepgoing.
Don't let it get you down.
So there's all sorts of thingsthat can prevent you from
getting to that specific angle.
So if you don't figure that outin advance, There might be some
barriers to getting the photoyou're dreaming about.
All right.
So that's your pre planningphase.
It's a lot.
It seems like, but honestly, Ifind it really fun because you
get to dream about a location.
(16:56):
You're going to, you get tostart setting up some details
and ideas and.
You get to really start delvinginto your trip or delving into
something creative andphotographically creative, which
is to me, a lot of fun.
Now while you're in yourplanning stage, there's also
obviously the gear that you needto think about.
Now, the gear can rangemassively.
It depends on how you like toshoot what you like to shoot.
(17:17):
What you're going there toshoot.
Gear can change so muchdepending on your shooting style
and what you're aiming to shoot.
So this list is not by any meansextensive or exhaustive, and
this list is also not meant asa, you must have this to do
this.
These are the things I tend tothink about a lot when I'm
heading out to shoot golden hourand blue hour.
And that's because I tend to mixbetween a lot of travel
(17:40):
photography and a lot of action,adventure photography, and then
some landscape stuff as well.
And so I try to bring out somegear that can kind of cover off
all three of those pieces.
Now you could honestly just goup with your camera of choice
and do a great, the lake qualityis such that it makes for really
easy photography, but this listis just some extra things to
(18:01):
think about.
Beyond the obvious, like yourcamera, plenty of batteries and
storage and something warm tothrow on when the sunsets,
because it can actually getquite cold.
All of a sudden.
So some of the other things Itend to think about is the
lenses, a wide aperture lens,especially for blue hour can
really enhance your photography.
Think something 2.8 or lowerperferably, you can get down to
like 1.2.
That's amazing.
(18:22):
Blue hour gets dark ratherquickly, to be honest, meaning
you're going to need to pumpthat ISO and a fast lens can
give you more light as well asproviding that beautiful dreamy
fall off.
And that really looks amazingduring the moody tones of blue
hour.
And when things start to get alittle bit darker and a little
bit more mysterious feeling, soa fast lens can actually really
enhance what you're shooting andit can mean that you don't
always have to stabilize yourcamera as much.
(18:44):
You can get away with shootingby hand a little bit more and
giving yourself a little bitmore flow, especially if you
don't love shooting on a tripod,which is my second thing that I
always look at is the tripod.
So if you're looking to createthe best landscape shots you're
will need a tripod.
You don't have a choice, thebest landscape shots come from
being set down on a tripod.
90% of the time.
(19:04):
Now we're talking like artsy.
High-end spectacular.
Shots where you're going to bedoing some focus stacking, and
you're going to be blendingexposures and doing all those
kinds of things.
You really do need a tripod,but.
If you aren't doing somethinglike that, a tripod isn't
actually a necessity.
But you'll just need to realizethat you'll need to bring in
more lights some other way thandropping your shutter because
(19:25):
admittedly, at a certain point,you can't keep dropping your
shutter down and handholding itand.
Getting usable images.
So things like pumping your iso,opening up your aperture.
Are going to be what youranswers are.
If you can't set it up on atripod and throw the shutter
speed down as low as you want itto go or as slow as you want it
to go.
So just be prepared for thatoutcome.
If you can't stabilize yourcamera or you don't want to
stabilize your camera.
(19:45):
So number three, remote shutterrelease.
Well, not strictly necessary.
A remote shutter release orcable release can be useful for
minimizing camera shake whentriggering the shutter,
particularly during longexposures.
This is because when you hit theshutter button, you are
introducing shake through thecamera.
And every time you touch thecamera, you shake it.
Even a little bit, and that canjust introduce a little bit of
(20:06):
detail being thrown off in yourimage.
So if you don't have to touchyour camera to set the shutter
off, that is spectacular,especially if you're doing
really long exposurephotography.
One of the ways I get aroundthis when my apple and connect,
or when I forget the trigger athome or, you know, there's all
sorts of reasons, the stuff likethat can happen pretty quickly.
Is to set the ten second timer.
(20:26):
I have found the three secondtimer works.
Okay.
But.
I tend to find the 10 secondsjust guarantees that I'm not
going to be having some shakeintroduced, especially if I'm
trying to run something for 3,4, 5 minutes, then I really
don't want to touch that cameraat all in advance.
If I can.
All right.
Number four lens filters.
So bring along a polarizingfilter.
(20:47):
So reduce glare and enhancethose colors.
Polarizers are my top suggestedaccessory for your camera.
Get a circular polarizer.
And neutral density filters aregreat for controlling exposure
and achieving long exposures,especially during golden hour
and blue hour, which really letsyou drag those clouds or the
water and all those kinds ofbeautiful things.
They're also really great forbalancing the sky out so you can
(21:08):
use graduated neutral densityfilters to darken the sky, but
leave your foregroundunaffected.
So all sorts of beautifulstacking methods.
And if you take a look at prolandscape photographers, their
sets for filters can just bephenomenal to look at and just
the way they've set them up andthe way they build them out.
And so well-worth, if you'relooking to get in deep into that
artsy style of landscapephotography and travel
(21:28):
photography.
You're going to have to startreally learning about neutral
density filters.
All right.
Number five, flashlight orheadlamp, especially for after
blue hour ends.
It may be getting dark reallyquickly, especially if you're
headed back out to somewhere.
If you've got a bit of a walkand you're not in a city, you're
going to need some sort oflight.
So I personally prefer aheadlamp has at least my hands
free to do other things likecarrying my gear.
(21:50):
And I despise relying on my cellphone for a torch as I want that
battery safe for pretty muchanything else, like potentially
saving my life if somethinghappens on the way home.
So headlamp.
All the way.
I always throw it into my bag.
If there's even the slightest ofchance that I'm going to think
about staying out late.
All right.
That is your prep period.
(22:11):
So that's getting your cameraequipment ready.
And what you're thinking about,that's getting yourself prepared
before you actually get out forgolden hour blue hour.
Now some tips for actuallyshooting during this time
period.
This isn't going to get too indepth into anything specific
about camera tips, because ithonestly depends on what your
subject is and how you're tryingto shoot and all sorts of other
pieces in there that I can'tgive you advice on without us
(22:33):
chatting directly in person andbeing in a situation.
So.
Instead of relying on that.
I'm just going to go back to acouple of composition tips.
That I find are incrediblyhelpful in these situations.
Don't just get wrapped up inwatching the pretty colors from
a sunset and watching where thesun goes down to them.
Just stare that way.
I look at where the light ishitting.
(22:54):
Let's say that it's sunrise andthe lights just coming up on the
horizon.
If you turn and look at wherethat light's hitting, especially
in the mountains, you cansometimes make out this
beautiful Reddy orange glow onthe mountain peaks.
That Alpenglow is something thatjust warms my heart and warms
all of me whenever I see it.
Don't just look at where thelight is and where the sun is.
(23:15):
Look all around.
You look for all the differentways that it's playing with
things you might be amazed bywhat you can see.
Second thing.
Don't just go to where everybodyelse is.
And this is slightly a pet peeveof mine as well.
I was out shooting.
Early one morning when it wasnegative 40 out here, I was out
on Vermilion lakes and I was bymyself.
And there was kilometers worthof space around me on this lake.
(23:38):
And another photographer cameby.
And set up.
Literally within like elbow roombeside me.
He just copied exactly what Iwas doing.
And honestly, the angle I had onRundle wasn't anything special.
I was there to film a video andit worked really well for the
angle I was looking for for thisvideo.
But photographically wasn'tactually that interesting.
(24:01):
Don't just go to right wheresomebody else has set up their
camera and set up their tripodand be like, oh, this must be
amazing.
I'm not the most fabulouslandscape photographer by any
stretch of the imagination.
There are so many people who arebetter than me and when I see
people sitting up beside me,it's like, all right, you do
you, but I hope that you're alsotrusting your own artistic
vision here, you want to be inthis spot because that's where
your photographic eye is tellingyou to go.
(24:22):
Not just because I'm a dude witha camera and to tripod and it
looks fancy and amazing.
Don't just go to where the otherphotographers are, if that's
where you want to be.
And you know that, and that'syour vision that's calling out
to you.
Hell yeah.
Go for it.
But if that's not your visionand that's not where you
thinking about being then gosomewhere else, go to where your
vision is telling you.
And don't worry about what thoseother photographers are saying.
(24:42):
And yes.
I realized easier said thandone.
But.
Something that can really helpyou is by just tuning into your
own artistic vision.
Alright.
And the last thing.
Don't leave too early.
I found so many times that I'vebeen out shooting sunrise and
like, oh, I've got a meeting inan hour.
I need to head out and we willgo back and be just a little bit
early, make some coffee orwhatever.
(25:04):
And then as soon as I packed mytripod and back in the car, the
sun just goes off.
And it didn't look like it wasgoing to be an amazing sunrise
and then all of a sudden, poof,there it is.
And it's beautiful andspectacular.
So just wait around a little bitlonger.
And you will get to a pointwhere you can kind of tell if
it's gonna work or it's notgonna work, especially if you
get.
To live in a destination toreally get to know that area.
(25:24):
But if you're visitingsomewhere, you've taken the time
and effort to be there.
Don't like wrap up your shootsuddenly just because it's like,
oh, the sunset didn't happenyet.
Or oh, like blue hour is notlooking great right now.
Wait.
Spend 10 minutes.
Talk to somebody, talk to theperson you're traveling with,
or, you know, quickly, take yourgear into the cafe beside you
and grab a drink and then runback out again, whatever it is.
(25:47):
Just wait, be there and just,just wait it out a little bit,
have a little bit of patienceand see if something happens.
Awesome.
And the last piece of advice Ihave for you is just don't get
wrapped up in only shootingduring golden hour and blue hour
and all that kind of stuff.
Great photos happen at all timesof day.
Make the most of the situationwhen you're in it, if something
(26:07):
catches your eye, if yourartistic instinct says,
photograph that.
Do it.
Don't always just wait for thelight to be perfect.
There's no such thing.
Listen to what your artisticvision says.
So while blue hour and goldenhour.
Amazing.
Make sure that you're out therefor them.
Make sure that you're shootingduring them.
Just also make sure that you'reout exploring all paths of
capturing amazing images thatfulfill your artistic vision.
(26:30):
And then just let yourcreativity soar.
Alright, thanks so much fortuning in today and doing what
you can to improve yourphotography.
I love talking about these kindsof things.
I that's why I do this.
It's just enjoyable for me.
And just talking about thethings that I've learned and the
things that I've learned fromthe people who reach out to me,
who.
There are some spectacularphotographers out there.
(26:51):
Y'all make me jealous with howgreat you are.
Keep it up.
And if you've got something youwant to learn or have a question
or anything like that, reachout.
I love having theseconversations and I'd love to
hear from you so you can connectwith me on Instagram at Robert
Massey photography, which I donot update nearly as often as I
should or visit my website atrobertmasseyphotography.ca reach
out that way.
Yeah, I always enjoy hearingfrom my fellow photography
(27:12):
enthusiasts and sharing in ourcollective passion for capturing
this big, beautiful world ofours.
All right.
Let's get out there.
Let's adventure.
Bye for now.
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