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In the northern hemisphere the upcoming longer evenings of spring and summer are the perfect opportunity to practice some blue hour photography. The warmer temperatures also make it a more comfortable experience for the photographer.
It’s a truly magical time of day to make photos, and I encourage you to try it. It helps you make beautiful photos, like this one I made in Venice.
I’ve always liked the idea that great photography happens on the edges. The blue hour is a kind of edge that marks the transition between night and day. I think of it as the magic hour. The low light levels are technically challenging, but the reward in terms of quality of light is well worth it.
Working in the blue hour helped me make a photo with these characteristics:
- The sky is dark blue, but not black like it would be at night.
- The color of the ambient light is blue, giving beautiful color in the sky and the water.
- The orange lights contrast beautifully with the blue water and sky.
- The low light meant I needed a shutter speed of 25 seconds (ISO 100, f22), which blurred the water and the lights of the moving boats in the foreground, adding mood. It’s a great way to practice long exposure photography.
Let’s explore some of these ideas in more detail.
When is the blue hour?
The blue hour takes place in the evening after the sun has set and the natural color of the ambient light is blue. It also happens in the morning before the sun rises above the horizon. I find the evening blue hour easier to work in as the progression from golden hour to blue hour to night seems more natural.
PhotoPills defines the blue hour as occurring when the sun is between -4 and -6 degrees below the horizon (more details here). In other words, it’s after the sun has set and is no longer lighting up the landscape with its warm light.
You can use an app like PhotoPills to calculate the blue hour and golden hour anywhere in the world. It’s a great planning tool for landscape photography.
The blue hour is much shorter than the golden hour, so it’s a good idea to have your composition and viewpoint worked out in advance so you can take advantage of it. Smart photographers do this during the golden hour so they are prepared.
While apps like PhotoPills use a specific criteria to calculate the start of the blue hour, in reality the line between it and the golden hour is more blurred. There is a gradual transition as the colors from the sunset fade and twilight grows deeper.
The blue hour and landscape photography
The blue hour is great for landscape photography. Whenever I’m on location and see other photographers, I’m always a little surprised how early most of them leave. Those that wait until after sunset are rewarded by an intensely beautiful, soft golden glow that gradually fades as night falls.
The light is magical if you are by the sea or a lake as the water reflects the colors in the sky. Then, the light fades away, stars begin to appear and you enter the blue hour.
If you’re lucky, other things can happen. The orange line in the photo below was made by a plane coming in to land at a nearby airport. You can’t plan for things like this – they can only happen if you’re on location.
Working in the blue hour opens up interesting possibilities if you can include tungsten lights or flames in the scene, as it sets up an evocative color contrast between the deep blue sky and the orange light (from an aesthetic point of view it’s a shame that LED and fluorescent bulbs are so common).
Light levels are so low during the blue hour that you need a tripod to support the camera. The tripod lets you use a low ISO for the best image quality and a long shutter speed to blur the movement of moving elements such as water. Another benefit of working at this time of day is that you don’t need to use neutral density filters to get long shutter speeds. This happens naturally as the light fades.
The blue hour and the urban landscape
The blue hour is also evocative in the urban landscape. Again you have the opportunity to combine the blue ambient light with tungsten and other artificial light sources.
Unlike landscape photography there may be enough ambient light to let you take photos with a hand-held camera at high ISOs. A prime lens, which has a wider maximum aperture than a zoom, may also be useful.
I made the photo below in Hong Kong, focusing on a nearby building and throwing the brightly lit skyscrapers in the distance out of focus.
Another approach is to photograph buildings by water. If you get the timing right you’ll capture the reflections of lights in the water, with enough light in the sky so it comes out deep blue rather than black.
Painting with light during the blue hour
The blue hour is also the ideal time to experiment with painting with light techniques. This is where you use an artificial light (like portable flash or torchlight) to illuminate part of the subject. If you use your imagination there are lots of ways you can put painting to light to use.
For example, I used a powerful LED torch with an orange gel to light the rocks in this landscape photo. The shutter was open for seven minutes and you can see the movement of the stars in the sky.
I used portable flash with an orange gel to light the wooden building in this photo. I fired the flash several times during a 30 second exposure.
The benefit of painting with light during the blue hour is that there’s enough ambient light to give a good exposure on the part of the scene that isn’t lit by any artificial light. Plus, the low light levels mean you can use a shutter speed long enough (around 30 seconds or so) to give you time to carry out your painting with light technique.
Get experimental in the blue hour
There are other techniques you can experiment with in the blue hour if you have the right equipment.
For example, I made the photo below with the assistance of a friend using an electronic hula hoop to create the patterns of light.
And I made the photo below using a technique called steel wool spinning. That’s where you put some steel wool in a whisk tied to a long piece of string, set it alight and get somebody to whirl it around. The sparks fly out, creating patterns like the one in the photo. Make sure you’re aware of the dangers before trying techniques like this – my friend doing the spinning is a trained fire performer and we took appropriate precautions.
Conclusion
The blue hour is a wonderful, magical time for photography. If you are photographing the landscape, especially one with water in it, it’s worth sticking around after sunset to see if you can make the most of the conditions. If you live in, or traveling to an urban location that looks great at dusk you should also have lots of opportunities for blue hour photography.
Mastering Photography ebook
You can learn more about light and how important it is in photography in my ebook Mastering Photography – a fantastic introduction to the foundational principles of good photography including the creative triangle (of which light is one part).
Click here to learn more or buy
