The hour before sunset isn’t always the most convenient time for a family shoot, especially when the days get long, and the sun is setting after 9:00. Then why do I advise my clients to wait until just before bedtime to have their family portraits taken?

When the sun is low in the sky, you can get a variety of different looks just from being aware of the direction of the light. We’ve already talked about sun flare here.

Here’s another example of flare on the left, although a bit more subtle. The picture on the right was taken just three minutes later, but look at the difference in lighting.

family portrait with gazebo and flare family portrait with gazebo

We shot the second portrait at a 90 degree angle to the first one, so instead of the light coming from behind (and slightly to the right) of the family, it was coming from the front and to the right. Different light, different mood.

 

head and shoulders portrait of girl family portrait on cornice 20150524_5043-2

Then we flipped almost 180 degrees, so the sun was now coming from the left  and just a little behind. You can see the pretty highlights on the hair of the girls, and the light on the face is soft, due to the sun starting to dip below the treeline. So we had a subtle glow from behind, but very little flare, and still had good color and contrast.

Also, at sunset, the light becomes much less intense, so you can use portable flash in a soft box, and it has a fighting chance to balance or even overpower the remaining daylight. There was too much light in the sky just twenty minutes prior, but the light drops really quickly at sunset.

family portrait at sunset

I purposely underexposed the background so there would be color in the sky. However, without additional lights, the family would have been really dark, so I used my soft box to light the family. This is a tricky thing to balance. You can’t let the background go too dark, or the shadows will be harsh, and your additional light will start looking like ugly pop-up flash. So you have to make the soft box light just a little brighter than the existing light, but enough to bring attractive color to the faces. In many cases, you would also want to use a colored orange filter over the flash to help it match the existing sunset light, but not with an Asian family. Believe me, I know of what I speak.

Now sunset isn’t the best time for every family. I tell my clients I would much prefer to deal with bad lighting conditions much better than a child who has been pushed way past his limits. Believe me, I know of what I speak there, too. But for families with older kids who don’t turn into pumpkins by dusk, the sunset golden hour is a great choice to plan a session that can yield a wonderful variety of lighting moods.