Golden Hour Landscapes
Krzysztof Browko

Golden Hour Landscapes

April 2023

Expert
winner

What a dramatic shot! This image represents everything we love about the golden hours – great colour, detail and depth. The foreground rocks are beautifully highlighted and we love how the clouds seem to be illuminated from both above and below. The sun itself is perfectly exposed. Very well composed and shot. Well done!

5,034 Images entered

2,562 Photographers

Not all landscapes are about sweeping scenes and big skies. This shot nicely focussed on a smaller detail, effectively choosing to capture the emotion and atmosphere of the golden hours. The lighting here is very theatrical and perfectly highlights the subject, while the exposure and colour balance are well managed.

A gorgeous shot of a well-known location. The colour, exposure and reflections are lovely and the composition is well considered, declining the temptation to place the iconic tower in the centre of the frame. A beautiful, classic golden hour landscape shot which captures the mood of the location. Well done.

This is a very creative interpretation of the golden hour landscape brief. The arch forms the perfect natural frame and we love how it takes a moment for the viewer to work out a scene of scale – the climber looks like a small spider hanging in a web! The exposure and colour are lovely and we see just enough of that fiery sky to know this was shot at the right times!

It's not just wild landscapes that work well during sunrise and sunset. This urban landscape makes great use of that time just before or after sunrise/sunset to create beautiful balance of natural and artificial light. The reflections in the glass really enhance the scene and the exposure is well managed.

Many of the best golden hour landscapes don't actually feature the rising or setting sun itself. This shot brilliantly demonstrates this point. It would have been very tempting to incorporate the sun, but this would have made exposing the water and maintaining a natural colour balance difficult. Very nicely exposed and the choice of shutter speed is ideal.

There is a truly cinematic element to this scene. The colour, light and framing all make it feel like a still from Cecil Blount DeMille movie. The composition of the lone figure is perfectly arranged and the exposure on the sand dunes is spot on. Technically perfect and equally creative, we love the interpretation of the brief.

Not all landscapes are about sweeping scenes and big skies. This shot nicely focussed on a smaller detail, effectively choosing to capture the emotion and atmosphere of the golden hours. The lighting here is very theatrical and perfectly highlights the subject, while the exposure and colour balance are well managed.

This is a classic golden hour landscape shot. The colour, lighting and composition all show off the best elements of this time of the day and the subject is well placed within the scene. Correctly exposing images at this time of day is always tricky but the photographer has nailed it in this case. Congratulations!

Brief

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There's a reason landscape photographers love sunrise and sunset. We want to see your best shots of golden hour light illuminating the landscape and picking out detail.

Meet the expert judge

What a gorgeous range of colours! The contrast of the blue foreground and fiery golden hour sky really creates depth and draws us into the picture, while the leading lines in the ice bring it all together. A dramatic and yet tranquil scene. Nicely done.

Not all golden hour shots have to be ultra-saturated, fiery scenes. We really like how the sun is just kissing the tops of the hills and the subsequent reflection in the water. A simple and classic Lake District landscape, expertly captured. Well done.

Mist and the golden hours are a combination that promises to deliver spectacular drama, as this scene perfectly demonstrates. We love the soft glow of the rising sun, as it lends its golden glow to everything in the landscape. Meanwhile, the choice of aspect ratio matches the subject nicely. Well done!

Not all landscapes are about sweeping scenes and big skies. This shot nicely focussed on a smaller detail, effectively choosing to capture the emotion and atmosphere of the golden hours. The lighting here is very theatrical and perfectly highlights the subject, while the exposure and colour balance are well managed.

Not all landscapes are about sweeping scenes and big skies. This shot nicely focussed on a smaller detail, effectively choosing to capture the emotion and atmosphere of the golden hours. The lighting here is very theatrical and perfectly highlights the subject, while the exposure and colour balance are well managed.