The “Golden Hour” – Just Before Sunset

The "golden hour", just before sunset
The “golden hour”, just before sunset

The theme for this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is The Golden Hour.

In photography, the “golden hour” is the first and last hour of sunlight of the day.

The golden hour - just before sunset
The golden hour – just before sunset

The last sunlight hour is my favourite time of day, and one I love to spend close to water. This particular evening I took myself to the beach with my writing notepad, pen and camera. What better place to be alone with your thoughts and write poetry…

As I lay motionless with camera poised a heron stopped to admire the view before continuing on his way.

Heron at sunset
Heron at sunset

The final photograph was taken at exactly the same time as those above but for some reason the exposure is totally different.

The Golden Hour
The Golden Hour

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ38 18 x optical zoom
All the above photographs were taken on Auto and not digitally enhanced.

I take my camera everywhere – do you?

36 thoughts on “The “Golden Hour” – Just Before Sunset

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  1. You’re so lucky to have access to the water. The best I can do is a 30 minute drive to the Ohio River. It’s not quite the same.

    I should take my camera with me more often. Those are lovely pictures.

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  2. I take my camera everywhere as long as it will fit in my purse (which means most other things get left at home just to make room!). Isn’t the “golden hour” fantastic? It doesn’t last long enough to be an hour, but the changes in light in such a short period of time make each photo feel different from the last!

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  3. The lighting at sunset always seems magical, and you have capture it well in these fab photos!
    I’m like you Pip, I take my camera everywhere I go – you just never know what you are going to come across and I want to be ready to capture it!

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  4. Beautiful gentle photos PIP . . . I live 40 kms inland but am surrounded by parkland with big groves of eucalypts all around me: when the sun sinks past them, the tops look like black lace . . . also lovely! Oh, love that hour best too, but that may partly be because ‘Eha’ means’ ‘last light of day’ in Estonian 😉 !

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  5. Each photo is better than the previous one. I especially love the reflection of sun in the wet sand. Gorgeous sunset!
    I am hosting a daily photo challenge on my blog, I’d love if you’ll check it out!

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  6. Great representation of the golden hour and challenge I love those sunset images
    I’m inviting you to join us on a regular photo tour link up on Mondays called Travel Photo Mondays, take a look

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  7. What beautiful pictures. It really is the golden hour.

    I take my cell phone camera with me, but I’m quite sure that’s not even close to what you used to take these. Regardless I always miss the shot. I was on vacation in Maine last week reading my iPad outside. An osprey flew right over my head with a big fish in his talons. And I, amazing photographer that I am, took a lovely picture of empty sky.

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  8. Stunning photos, PIP!! Since we don’t live near the water and never see sunsets in this way, I love the views through blogger lenses! These are majestic photos — and what a refreshing change from your recent smoke-and-fire pictures! Please feel free to share more ocean views with us at any time, especially during the golden hour. =)

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  9. Gorgeous photos and a lovely piece of writing. You can’t beat a beautiful sunset. Like the commenters above me, I tend to always have my iphone camera on me (although the phone’s broken right now 😦 ) Although it doesn’t compare to the quality of my dslr that is a little bulky to always carry and, as they say, the best camera is the one you have on you when that moment happens!

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  10. I always have been a picture-taker and always have a camera with me. Usually it’s just my iPhone these days as I’m in the market for a new camera that I can take stellar photos with! Sunsets are by-far my favorite subject since we moved to Florida and have an excellent location for viewing sunsets right from my porch.

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