Ever gushed over a strong blue tone of an early morning or evening sky? We have too! The twilight hues set a different kind of mood, mystery, and a bit of magic to any imagery. Just as the golden hour, the blue hour also opens up a whole new world of creative possibilities for photographers to experiment with. And in this blog, we feature some of the most iconic blue hour wedding and engagement photography by some of ShootDotEdit’s customers. Follow through for more inspiration.
What is Blue Hour?
Just as the name suggests, the blue hour is that time of dusk or dawn when the dominant color in the sky is blue. It does not specifically last only for an hour, but could actually extend more or less than that depending on the location and the weather conditions. In simpler words, it is that time of the day when the red or orange hues of the sunset or sunrise wane out and blue takes over.
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Blue Hour Wedding + Engagement Photo Inspiration From ShootDotEdit Customers
Below are some stellar examples of blue hour photographs taken by ShootDotEdit Customers:
1. Danny Dong Photography
2. J Perryman Photography
3. Looyenga Photography
4. Robb McCormick Photography
5. IQ Photo
Suggested Read: Wedding Photo Ideas: Inspiration From ShootDotEdit Customers
Blue Hour Photography Tips
Given below are some basic photography tips to help you get the best out of shooting in the blue hour.
1. Plan Ahead & Get the Timing Right
The timings for blue hour differ from region to region. So it is important to find out the sunset and sunrise timings of a place where you are planning to go for a photography session. Once you have a clear idea of the timing, plan ahead and reach the location before time so that you get ample time for location scouting and setting up your equipment. In addition to that, look for an interesting foreground to pair with the striking blue background.
2. Use a Tripod
The blue hour is a great time to get those awesome long-exposure shots. However, that also implies that most of the time, you will be operating at a slow shutter speed. Thus, even the faintest camera shake or movement, sometimes, even that of a button press, could lead to blurry photographs. So, using a tripod could make things a lot easier for you. This could also give you ease at shooting in low ISOs and with smaller apertures. Moreover, if need be, you could opt to get a remote to control the camera capture action to even avoid the shake from pressing the shutter button.
3. Shoot in Manual or Shutter Priority Mode
When you are photographing during sunset or sunrise, don’t even think about setting your camera on Auto mode. The reason is what you perceive as a beautiful warm golden hour sky or a dramatic blue hour sky, your camera perceives it as either underexposed or overexposed. If set on Auto, it will try to balance out the hues to give you a perfectly exposed but blunt image. So photograph in either Manual or Shutter Priority mode. The Manual mode gives you complete control over your aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. However, the Shutter Priority mode gives you the ease of manually adjusting your shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture accordingly.
4. Focus Properly
When your scene is dominated by dark blue hues, it could get difficult to properly focus on your subject. You might find that the auto-focus is not working at par. During such times, try to illuminate the subject to get the camera to easily focus on it. Additionally, you could also switch to manually adjusting the focus to get your focus right.
5. Start With Setting Your ISO 100
The agenda is to get as much light in as you can by adjusting the aperture and the shutter speed. And therefore, it is essential not to brighten the scene from the very start when things could have been adjusted via aperture and shutter speed. So start photographing with your ISO at 100 and gradually increase it, when need be, as the sky and the scene get darker.
6. Experiment with City Lights & Cityscapes
Cityscapes get surprisingly interesting during the blue hour. The contrasting blend of the striking orangish or yellowish city lights with the deep blue hue of the background creates an interesting setup. Moreover, you could include various elements in your scene and experiment with some unique perspectives. It also makes for a great setting for engagement sessions and post-reception couples photo shoots.
7. Get Creative with Light Painting
Now, this is not necessary, but light painting at blue hour could help your creative imagination let loose and create some captivating photographs. Moreover, a bit of light painting could help you illuminate your subjects, thus drawing the viewer’s attention to them. Light painting could also help you achieve an illustration or painting-like perception in your images.
Further Read: Wide-Angle Photo Inspiration From ShootDotEdit Customers
You could approach blue hour photography in different ways – a lot depends on how and how much you are willing to experiment with it. However, it is important to understand that timing and framing play a critical role in getting those picture-perfect shots. When you get those right, you could create some truly spectacular images just as the one shared here from ShootDotEdit customers. We hope you found the information in this blog resourceful and the images inspiring. Do let us know what you think in the comment section below.
At ShootDotEdit, we are passionate about helping you grow as a wedding photographer. However, if you find that endless editing tasks are blocking your way and sapping your energy, let us help! To learn more about how our professional photo editing services could give you your time back, check out our pricing plans.
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