When is the Best Time to Shoot Photos Outside?

Last Updated: August 9th, 2019

Ah, the great outdoors…and the age old question asked by new photographers everywhere: when is the best time to shoot outside?

It’s an incredibly common question, and an important one to know the answer to. While we could give you a roundabout answer, and could probably argue that anytime of day could be a good, maybe even great, time to shoot photographs — the reality of the question is probably a little more simple.

When asking what the best time of day for taking photographs is, you are likely also wondering about what time of day is the easiest and most striking.

With these 3 components in mind — the best, easiest, and most striking times of day for photography, what do we think?

The answer is: Golden Hour

What is Golden Hour?

Golden hour is the time 1 hour after sunrise, and 1 hour before sunset.

The find these times on any given day, Google “sunset (month) (day)”. This is something we do pretty much every time we are scheduling a photo shoot.

Like the phrase implies, Golden Hour is the times of day most often painted in appealing, soft, and dramatic light. For virtually any type of photography, be it portraits, landscapes, or otherwise — shooting during these timeframes are most likely to give you great images.