What separates an average production from an elite one?

When heading out on location to film your content, a lot of factors will determine how well your content will come together. Your creative concept, the crew's expertise, the quality of your equipment and the location, all play an important role in how the project will turn out. 

But one of the most important factors that separates an average production from an elite one is light, and more specifically embracing the magic and golden hours to capture your hero shots! 

What is Magic and Golden Hours?

Magic and golden hours do tend to be used interchangeably. Magic Hour refers to the time just after sunset and just before sunrise. This is when you get those soft hues of gold, pink, and blue and because there is no direct sunlight, you get amazing diffused light to work with. 

Golden Hour is the time before sunset and after sunrise, when the sun is low on the horizon. The low angle of the sun produces stunning golden light and cinematic flares, making it a premium time to capture your hero shots! 

Capturing cinematic gold 

As filmmakers, we would work exclusively in this light if we could, capturing cinematic flares from the warm, low-angle light against the blue and pink hues in the sky. 

Unfortunately, as the name suggests these beautiful lighting conditions don’t last very long. In most cases, it’s significantly less than an hour. So here are a few tips on how to make the most out of this amazing light.

Tip #1: Schedule 

The window of time to capture both magic and golden hour is narrow, so you want to have a solid plan in place for the content you will be shooting at the beginning and end of the day. 

Know exactly what time sunset is and what time you need to be on location to set up and be ready to hit record as soon as that sky lights up. 

Tip #2: Location Scout 

Scout out your locations ahead of time, there are some great apps you can use to track the sun and know exactly where it will be at what time. If you’re filming in a valley for example, the actual sunset time is irrelevant to you, you need to know what time you will lose the light over the ridge line so you can plan your shots accordingly. 

Tip#3: The Weather 

Mother Nature always has a way of throwing in curveballs on production days! Even if the skies have been perfectly clear all day, clouds will start rolling in on the horizon an hour before sunset. Hope for the best conditions, but have a plan B for what you will capture if the weather doesn’t cooperate. 

Tip#4: Get Creative

Get ready to set those alarms for an early morning start, because there are so many amazing shots and looks you can achieve using Magic and Golden hour light. Just be prepared ahead of time, because the production window is short and you don’t want to miss out!