The Blue Hour by Richard Lewis 2014
We photographers live for the golden hours. That is the time just before and after sunrise and sunset when the world is illuminated with beautiful gold, yellow and red hues. I am also becoming a big fan of another time that is called the blue hour. This is the twilight time between darkness and the golden hours where the light is a deep blue color. It is a very special time in the evening when day fades into night, and in the morning, when night begins to become the day. I find the Blue Hours to be a very quiet and peaceful time to be outside.
The Blue Hours are also a tough time to photograph. We photographers record light and there really isn’t a lot of it around at that time. Still, a willingness to explore these magical hours can yield some wonderful results.
How I did It – Listen to your inner photographer. Usually my photographs of a moon rise are the product of careful planning. Not this one. One Friday afternoon, my wife and I happened to run into some friends and we were having a great time catching up. All of a sudden a little voice in my head told me to leave, so I did. While I was driving home the full moon rose. I wasn’t even aware there was a full moon, let alone that it was rising at dusk which is such an ideal time. An image popped into my mind and I raced to that location just in time to capture it. We all have an inner voice, an inner photographer, that it pays to listen to it once in a while.
Enjoy.
So very right… many miss this time, even on many ws’s the instructor will finish after the sun fades… I for one always stay. Beautiful example of this in your comp!!!!
Mike, with the equipment now available to us it is so much easier to get amazing results in low light, especially during those magical blue hours. By the way I’m glad you are one of the people who hang around after the sunset to explore with your camera and your great talent.
Reblogged this on rebloggobbler.
Thanks again for reblogging one of my posts.
You’re welcome. It is an excellent post!
Beautiful photograph and inspiring words. Thank you. Is this taken with a digital camera and on what settings etc? I love photography and have studied it numerous times in college but haven’t paid much attention to the technical part. I will follow your blogs and hopefully learn lots 🙂
Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it. The photograph was taken with a digital camera, a Canon 5d Mark III model. The settings were ISO 800 with a shutter speed of 1.5 seconds at f11 for the aperture. I used a 70-200mm zoom lens set to 200mm. I hope this helps and you enjoy following my blog.
Nice work Rich/Richard 🙂
Thank you very much Ian.
Reblogged this on UAL Art and design.
Rich, such a beautiful image. You really have a special talent for landscape photography. Can I call you the “Andrew Wyeth” of photographers? I’m inspired.
Hi Lisa. Thanks for your compliment. Calling me Andrew Wyeth will make me blush because he is a major influence on my work.
You’re welcome. Landscape photography is not my strong suit, so I’m inspired by your work. Please continue to share your amazing images and narratives for aspiring newbie’s like myself.
Twilight is my favorite time to shot as well! Hence the name… Twilight Blue Photography.
Great job Rich … that color sure feels like twilight. Wonderful exposure too!
Thank you Denise! I appreciate it.
Your post inspires me to get out more with my camera during the Blue Hours.
I’m glad you are inspired and hope to see some great photography created during that special time of day.