Camera: Nikon D40 (standard zoom lens)
Exposure time: 1/250
F number: 8
Flying to Taiwan for the first time; Damn, my heart was filled with anxiety and "what-ifs"
Then I decided to look out of the window as everyone did – Frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong... so breathtaking.
- Jasmine Thian
Here's my brother Jordan walking along the train track during sunset. He likes trains so I promised him to go see the tracks for a bit on his birthday. It was pretty chill outside so he wore my sweater, while shivering and biting on his thumb when I snapped this shot.
Camera used: Canon 500D, with 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Shot at 1/250 sec, ISO 400, f/1.8
- Zhao Lin
Taken with a Nikon D40x on auto actually…J
This was a once a year even in Oceanside, CA where a few "Tall Ships" come from Alaska, San Jose (I think) and one form Oregon and the rendezvous and have a mock battle during "Harbor Days"
- Lane Jasper
My name is Peter Green, and I'm submitting my photo to your Golden Hour contest. I'm an amateur photographer, and hope to start working as a full-time wedding photographer soon.
I'm currently completing a photography course from NYIP, and my website is: www.petegreenphotography.com
I took this photo at Big Bend National Park in west Texas.
The photo was taken with my 37 year-old Canon AE-1, with a 28mm, f2.8, wide prime lens. Film type was Kodak ISO 400, shutter speed was 1/125 sec, at f8. Post processing cleanup was done in Lightroom 3.
Interestingly, the developer flipped the negative when scanning. In reality, the woman in the photo was on the right side of the frame. But, I actually like this angle better for some reason.
Thanks! I hope you like it!
- Pete Green
Taken with a camcorder! A Panasonic HS-700 to be precise, with a polarizing filter attached. 1/100th second, ~f4, can't exactly remember.
Took this earlier this evening whilst at the beach in Northern England. It is a picture of my stepmum and little sister wrapping up as it was starting to get cold after a nice long day enjoying the sunshine. It was actually a lot brighter than it appears, as I had to close the aperture right down to bring out the sun's colour!
- Peter Kilfeather
I take pictures around my school alot, and I've been doing a lot of sports photography lately. I loved this picture of lacrosse balls just lying down. The team was doing target practice, and these were the balls that didn't go in, so they were all clustered together. I've been using a Canon Rebel T2i, and this was taken with my (just sold) kit lens, an 18-55 mm f/3.6-5.4. This was taken at 42mm, ISO 200, f/5.6, at a 1/1250 shutter speed.
- Arrian Jahangiri
Pentax K-7 with PENTAX-DA 16-45mm F/4 Lens
1/80, F/4, ISO 400
I saw the shooting challenge earlier in the day and I knew these newborn ducklings would be great for a golden hour shot. The mom was taking all 11 ducklings around for food and swimming in the lake. This was one of their first days out and about on campus and they were zipping around everywhere, so I boosted the ISO and opened the aperture all the way to minimize blur. These two little ones were playing around and got left behind for a few moments. This shot was taken right as the mom came back and squawked at them to catch up and made for a great storybook shot.
- Aaron Perelstein
Cousin was watching a group of people play basketball at the park. Also looking at some weird cross-dressing Asian dudes. Crazy day. Sun was going down and a train was passing by. It seemed like the perfect moment in time... Besides the cross-dressers...
Exposure time 1/250
Iso - 200
- Chris Milton
Name: Bryant Francis
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: 18-135mm Zoom lens
ISO 640, Shutter speed 1/400th, Iris 5.6
I'm a film student living right by the Warner Lot in Los Angeles, and was driving back from work just as sunset hit. As I pulled into my apartment complex, the DJ on the radio commented on how beautiful a day it was, and I suddenly remembered the golden hour contest on Gizmodo. I knew I'd only have about thirty minutes to shoot some pictures of the Lot, so I grabbed my camera and bolted out the door. I got some beautiful shots of the lot and some of the nearby foliage, but this was the shot that really captured my eye. It's the Smokehouse cafe across the street from the lot—-most famous for being one of George Clooney's favorite restaurants in the city. (He named his production company after it!) I like this shot because the architecture's got this nice, rustic feel to it, something you can't usually find in LA, and the sun playing down on it looks like it could belong out of a New England town. For the fun side of the story, I shot this while standing on the middle of Olive avenue, with the light counting down the seconds until I was scheduled to be run over by LA traffic.
- Bryant Francis
Camera: Canon 40d
Lens: Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8
Exposure: 1/800 seconds at ISO 400, f/4, 100mm
Location: Lake Ontario, Canada
I walked down to the pier before sunset to see what kind of photographic opportunities I might find during the "Golden Hour". I noticed a bunch of seagulls standing on the edge of the pier and as I got closer they would take off over the water towards the sun every time. I set my camera to f/4 ISO 400 to allow for a faster shutter to try to catch one of the gulls in mid flight over the water. I'd approach them slowly to see how close I could get and then kneel down on one knee to get closer to the water and stabilize my body and camera. When the birds took off I'd pull the camera up to my eye whilst twisting my body to pan the camera with the flight of the bird and snap a few shots when the bird was in frame.
- Andrew O'Hoski
I took this with my Sony HX5V in the golden hour(s) of April the 14th. I walked outside to take out the trash and I saw this beautifully lit scene in my backyard... remembering the challenge, I ran back inside to grab my camera/tripod. I took a couple bracketed shots. In post processing I combined 2 bracketed photos so it wouldn't be blown out (not quite HDR though). I cropped and did some color enhancing, but it's otherwise untouched!
Taken at ISO125, f/10.0, HX5V
- Brian Coffman
Canon EOS Rebel T2i
1/125 sec exposure time
Cropped to fit resolution (which worked wonderfully) and slightly sharpened.
Now that spring has started rearing it's head here in Connecticut, my boyfriend and I decided to take a nice convertible ride to his hometown. He asked if I had ever seen the local Civil War Monument, and I had only been there at night. We stopped to take some photos, it was around 7:15pm, and my boyfriend lit up - he remembered the photo contest. This one is my favorite - entryway showing the sunlight beaming through the windows, the monument in the back, and the tattered flag.
- Ashlee O'Connor
I'd gone for a bike ride after work and when I made it to the bridge I noticed that the light was hitting everything beautifully - that reminded me of this photo challenge, so I figured I'd give it a try. All I had with me was my HTC Evo phone, but my only other camera is a point-and-shoot and I wouldn't know the correct way to adjust a DSLR anyway. I did play around with a few photo apps, but this shot was just taken with the native camera function on the phone, my only adjustment was to crop it a little. The foreground shows the bay - I think it's still called the Barnegat Bay there, but the map disagrees - and behind the few rows of houses is the Atlantic.
Morning, one of my favorite times to shoot. Every sunny morning I want to go shoot instead of go to work. On this sunny morning, I was shooting along the way to work. I tried some rural locations and nothing was inspiring me so when I parked my car at the office and got out, I saw the shadows and glow from my office building. There's a 50 ft. high train hill behind our office and trees atop it. The shadows were magnifyed by the sun and projected onto the building, something I overlook most mornings.
- Jeff Browne
Wentworth is new to my home and has traditionally been very skittish. Having never been socialized with other cats before its taken him some time to get use to a new place and having a friend to share that space with. As you can see he is now very relaxed. One of his favorite spots is sitting in the open window where he can enjoy the breeze and soak up the sun.
Located in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada
Shot with a Nikon D90
18 to 105mm Nikkor Lens
- Jeremy Finlay
Just like almost every later afternoon the sun comes shining through my window on my keys and fingers while I play the piano. When I recognized the
motive it was too late, as the sun sets quite fast at this time of the year and it just barely touched the sheets when the tripod was ready.
Nikon D90 on tripod
- Marco Senf
This is fountain in Dubai mall was bursting into sky. My friend and I took some videos. And I remembered that hey this is a Golden Hour why don't I take a shot. Here is the stunning water explosion into the sky. This fountain dances when the music play all around the lake. It shows every 30 minutes until 22:00. It very nice to watch especially at night with lights and smoke.
Camera: Canon 60D
Shutter speed: 1/256s
Focal Length: 18mm
- Ruslan Riad
The attached photo it may look like a everyday scene because that's what it is... I saw your contest on Gizmodo and in my way back home in FOrt Lauderdale's Interstate I-595 going west, there was this awesome sunset and it hits me... you Golden Hour shot... and there it was this huge truck ahead reflecting the sunset, so I open the sunroof of my car and took my iPhone 4 and snap a lot of pictures while driving at 70mph... and this is the one I like the best.
I didn't do anything to it in Photoshop other than rename it and resize it.
Equipment: iPhone 4, and this is the geotag info from that pic
Basic Image Information
Camera: Apple iPhone 4
Lens: 3.9 mm
Exposure: Auto exposure, Program AE, 1/408 sec, f/2.8, ISO 80
Flash: Auto, Did not fire
Date: April 13, 2011 7:33:24PM (timezone not specified)
(1 day, 23 hours, 4 minutes, 54 seconds ago, assuming image timezone of 5 hours behind GMT)
Location: Map via encoded GPS coordinates at: Google, Yahoo, WikiMapia, OpenStreetMap, Bing
(also see the Google Maps pane below)
Altitude: 16.76777939 m
Timezone guess from earthtools.org: 5 hours behind GMT
File: 1,912 × 2,560 JPEG (4.9 megapixels)
2,753,386 bytes (2.6 megabytes) Image compression: 81%
Embedded color profile: "sRGB"
- Ruben Nicholls
Shoot with Canon 7D and a Sigma 30mm f1.4. Setting was f1.4 1/1000 of a second and ISO100
I met Shar in a bar one night with my wife. We were there for the Karaoke and cheep beer. I had my camera with me, as I always do and i asked her if I could take her picture and then gave her a card and ask if I could shoot her sometime... She said, "does you wife know" I laughed and said of course. She's right here... So she waited 6 months to call me, but when she finally did I took her to a very secret little spot I have here in South Carolina and this is one of the images from that day. I was concerned that it wouldn't turn out good without any motif or props, and I didn't know her well, but I knew I wanted to shoot her.. Usually the people I shoot I know and I capture then in their element. But when she showed up with that little Tea-cup Yorkie I knew I was going to get a good image.
- Jason Rossi
5D Mark II w/ 24-105mm f/4L IS
ISO 100, 24mm at f/16 with an exposure of 1.3 seconds
I shot this photo just after sunset in Glendo State Park, Wyoming. I am here on a photo journey, all the way from Indiana, and remembered the Golden Hour Challenge, right as I was about to pack up.
- Eric Hines
Sunset over The Holy City
This week marks the 150 anniversary of the start of the Civil War, so all this week there were reenactments of the first attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. While photographing the reenactment after work I turned my camera and was able to catch the sunset over Charleston. The picture came out so golden I did not feel to mess with any of the colors with photoshop (just resized).
Canon 60D (Lens (18-200mm)
- Alejandro Torres
Equipment is a Nikon D90 on tripod with 80-400mm Tokina AT-X lens at 100mm focal length.
Aperture priority mode:
Shutter: 1/8 seconds
Auto settings for exposure, white balance set for overcast.
I live down the hill from a small mountain here in Phoenix. I packed up my camera and tripod early one morning before sunrise and went to the trailhead. I put my telephoto lens on and grabbed the tripod and marched up the trail a bit which allows a generous view of the valley. I was on the east face of the mountain so trying to take a picture of the valley below was backlit. However the mountain had some nice shadows with a honey colored surface. So that's what I aimed for.
- Cory Newkirk
I was composing a scene outside with the intent of submitting another picture, when I noticed my puppy, Gerty, was watching me with such intensity. I thought there was probably a bit too much sun behind her, but I quickly took a knww and fired off a shot to try and capture her curiosity. It resulted in a nice glow around her!
Shot with a Canon 60D and EF50MM f/1.8 II lens
1/100 sec. F/3.5, ISO 100, 50 MM
I figured this week's challenge was a sort of celebration for the sun coming back out, so I went with a subject synonymous with Spring and sunshine: some pretty-ass flowers. I wanted the composition to include several blossoms, as well as the nice blue sky I was fortunate enough to shoot under. Shot on a Nikon D5000, Nikkor 18-70mm lens @ 50mm, ISO 800, f/16, 1/250. Contrast adjusted using Picasa.
- Greg Carlson
"It's all gold to me"
Canon Rebel XSI, 55mm, 1/200 sec, f/20.
Went for a walk around the park right before sunset. I figured it would be a good time to shoot. I wanted to go a bit earlier but I got caught working late
- Tim Drivas
Taken with a Canon 20D and a 50mm f/1.8, settings: f/4 1/250 sec ISO 100.
I took this picture around Belleview, CO, just a little before 7pm while I was driving about on a dirt road. I've always noticed sunsets in the mountains really bring out an awesome orange and a hell of a lot less haze with the sun to your back. So I figured I'd head up and see what I could get with my budget lens, and I thought this one was the best of the bunch.
- Will Schlatmann
I actually had wanted to go somewhere interesting this evening for a good shot for this contest, hopefully a nice sunset landscape - outside at the art museum, a lake, something downtown, anything other than my house. But the day was a busy day avoiding all the tornadoes & storms in NC on 4/16. After picking up debris from our yard that was deposited by the storms, then dinner with the wife & kids, I just grabbed my camera and ran down the stairs to try and catch something interesting in my yard. On the way out, I saw the clock, the light coming in through the front door was just right, and the clock sort of went with the "golden hour" theme, so I figured why not. Shot with Canon EOS Rebel T2i, EF 50mm 1:1.8 II, f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO200
- Corey Bunch
This photo hails from Xiamen, China, one of the Special Economic Zones on the southern coast facing Taiwan. While typically a beautiful place, Wednesday evening was very different from the norm as the sun set behind a thick layer of pollution and humidity induced smog, offering an atypical golden hour sky. Well, it wasn't so golden but somehow I found it very "Chinese." Taken handheld from a bathroom window: Sony a550,18-200mm, ISO 250, f/6.3, 1/320 sec. Some adjustments were made to clear out excessive haze.
- Kyan Zeng
I've been following Gizmodo's shooting challenges for some time now, but I've been shooting landscapes for over four years. The golden hour has its way of really taking scenery to an entirely new level, and I enjoy the thrill of traveling to distant destinations searching for that elusive picture in the most preferred setting. My most favored shots in my collection are ones taken just after the sun rises/sets over/past the horizon - which is usually a very narrow window of opportunity spanning only a few minutes, This picture is no exception, and was taken right at sunrise in a park (appropriately) called 'Top of the World' in Laguna Beach, CA. (Canon Rebel XTi w/24-70 2.8, f/8, 1/320s, ISO200, 70mm, Manfrotto tripod)
- Francis Manuel
The Hound of Beaumonde
This is a picture of our dog, Karma, when we were on the way to the dog park in downtown Boise, Idaho to do a bit of training. I googled the time of the sunset that day so I knew exactly when it was going to be the golden hour. I managed to get Karma to lay down perfectly in front of the sun and was immediately attracted to how the light illuminated his mane. I seized the opportunity and laid flat on the pavement to get a couple shots while he peered up innocently at my wife. Usually he's full of energy and quite manic, but he controlled himself to stay still while I was shooting. This photo was shot with my Nikon D3100 with a Nikkor 18-55mm lens (ISO 100, f-stop 6.3, and shutter of 1/160).
- Bryan Lanning
Canon Rebel XSi, 50 mm, f/ 5.6, ISO 100, 1.3 sec.
For this shot I set up my camera on a tripod in the back seat and used my laptop in the passenger seat for a tethered shoot. The "golden hour" light made it easy to take a longer exposure without everything being blown out.
- Adam Mosier
Thankfully, I had my Canon T2i in the car with me when I spotted the moon rising last Saturday afternoon. I have a super-saturated user setting on it, clicked it into gear, and got the shot. Was closed down to a f16 on this shot (but I like the composition most on this one), so i had to boost it up a little, but doing so made those Los Angeles sunset colors pop a little bit more.
- Greg Cebulski
just upgraded my camera and decided it was time to step up and start participating in the challenges!
My setup was:
So I totally geeked out over the Golden Hour calculator and set my phone alarm to head out at exactly 7:10pm. I biked to the spot I had in mind overlooking most of San Francisco, but when I got to the high point; the light hitting the buildings was.. meh. So I turned a 180 and rounded a corner.. and came across this unreal view. I couldn't believe I lucked out so much! There were a ton of power lines in my way though so I ended up scaling a vertical rock face leaving my bike on the sidewalk (unlocked) and must have fired 50 pictures with my camera as high above my head as possible.. while checking to make sure my beloved bike wasn't getting jacked. Soon enough the sun completely set and I climbed down.. and my bike.. well it was still there.
Honestly it was tough choosing between two really different pics for this, hope you guys enjoy this one. I'm a native New Yorker in college over here, and these views are about as nice as SF gets. Can't wait to get home though.
This is my first entry into the Shooting Challenge. I've been following them for sometime and
wanting to enter but just never got around to putting something together. This time I was
determined to get an entry in. I spent some time this week coming up with locations and potential
shots with the plan of getting out this weekend. Naturally the weekend forecast changed to nothing but
rain so I had just one morning (this one) and one evening to get a good shot.
I spotted this on the way to work and had about 5 minutes to setup and make the shot. Oddly enough this
was not one of my scouted locations and I just happened across it. As fate would have it the evening
clouded over so this was the only chance I ended up with. Luckily I had my camera with me.
Date: April 15 6:27am
Canon EOS 60D
Lens EF 300 f4-5.6
1/400 at f6.3
- Bruce Clement
I was sitting with friends at my local cafe in Tel-Aviv when this dog came to ask for some food,
I love how the golden hour reflects in his eyes.
shot with a Canon 7D, 28-135 lens at 100 iso.
- Zohar Ralt
Sunset Over Cemetery
This shot was taken just after 6:45 pm at the Rest Haven Cemetery in Franklin, TN. On November 30, 1864 Franklin was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the American Civil War, with over 8,500 casualties. The Confederate army under Hood lost six generals that day. Established in 1855, Rest Haven is home to numerous Confederate soldiers as well as post-war civic leaders.
Shot was tonemapped in Photomatix Pro from three exposures - 1/80, 1/320 and 1/1000 all at f/3.5, ISO 200 using a Nikon D90 with Nikkor 18-55@18mm.
- Win Barker
Camera: Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i)
Focal length: 18
F number: 3.5
Exposure time: 1/60
This photo is purely raw from the camera and unedited except to insert a tiny watermark.
Every couple of years, I travel out of my country to visit this place up high in Malaysia called Genting Highlands. It's an entire holiday resort type of village built on top of a mountain. I was there at its Mushroom Garden to have dinner with my friends and we had to walk back up a small part of the mountain. This photo was taken during the climb in the cold evening air. The sun was just about to set and it rained before that, and that's why the floor was so shiny.
- Hitoshi Lee
I was so keen to get a shot this week that I ended up going out about 2 hours two early to get a shot and wandered around for ages lying in fields and shooting random objects which caught the light, but eventually when the sun really was providing the golden hour I came across the bed of flowers with the sun bathing them in Golden light.
Shot with Nikon D90
Nikkon 50mm 1.4G @ f14
ISO 100, 1/50 s
Title: Gold tiles
Taken at Barcelona's old port, with a Canon 60D and a LensBaby Composer lens, hence the strange but interesting bokeh. I was a few friends and we went to the old part of the city to take some pictures, today's sunset was great and we enjoyed a 'rich' golden hour. The golden color of the tiles comes from the reflection of the sunset's rays which were of the appropriate color!
- Ernest Figueras
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
lens: Sigma 10-20mm
shutter speed: 1/4
I was out taking photos of the sunset with my brother when I noticed a rather skilled skim boarder riding the building swell. The colors were awesome and he made a great subject for the Golden Hour contest. I talked to him after taking the shots and found out he is an instructor from learntoskim.com a company that teaches people of all ages how to skim board and enjoy the ocean. Needless to say Andrew was awesome and allowed for me to enter this photo.
- Brenton Weist
The following photograph was shot at a dog Pound in Pistoia Italy. The place is filled with cement and countless bars of metal confining many unwanted homeless dogs. The minute I arrived, late afternoon, the dogs showed their true state in the golden hour. Taken with a Canon 7D with a 50mm 1.8 lens.
- Alessandro Schneider
Was walking along the Thames looking for some golden light in the moments the sun wasn't stuck behind cloud, and saw this guy in the jacket posing people in various positions so their friends could take photos. The sun came through and made a nice soft, warm light on them and his shiny bald head. So I snapped it with my Canon 60D, F stop at 5.6 and flipping the LCD out so I could get reach over the crowd! ISO 100. RAW processed in-camera, resized only with Irfanview.
- Pete Moran
Photographer: Trenton Jones
Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 55-200 zoom lens
Exposure time: 1/90
Taken on: April 14th, 2011 at 7:42 PM
The sun backlight the scene causing a glow to the subject in
There is a field of bluebonnets outside my house with
scattered yellow bud flowers. I tried a few focusing only on
blue bonnet flowers and they didn't seem to make any "pops"
in a photo. Focusing on the yellow in the field of blue
bonnets brought a great contrast to the photo.
- Trenton Jones
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
I was walking my dog in nearby horse trails/farm and as much as I would have liked to submit a picture of my dog licking a cow's nose, I realized it didn't really fit the contest. :D
- Jaclyn B.
body: Canon 7D
lens: EF50mm f/1.4 USM
exposure: 1/160 sec at f/2.8, ISO 100,
story: On Friday I had a scheduled sunset portrait session with my cousin and his family, so when I saw this week's challenge I couldn't resist (as I have been for some time now) finally submitting a photo. This is a photo of my cousin and his son and I thought, although it is not the strongest portrait from the session, I let a lot of sunlight into the frame and I thought it fit the theme for this week's challenge well. Enjoy.
- Brady Cabe
The Golden Hour is just before the kids' bedtime at our house, so
while I could get my 3-year-old daughter to step outside, I didn't
dare interrupt her pre-bedtime ritual of snuggling with her blanket.
Canon 5D Mk II, Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. RAW, ISO 100, 1/400 sec,
f/2.2, color temp 6250K. Used Lightroom to add +0.40 exposure, apply a
medium contrast tone curve, and crop in a bit.
- Peter Evans
This shot was taken while hiking in North Carolina. My friend and I parked along the Blue Ridge Expressway to head up to the top on the mountain. This was shot on our way back down. I used a Canon 7D with my favorite 20mm lens. Hope you enjoy it!
- Joe Watson
I met up with my friend Pete to take some photos here in London at the River Thames. We went to go take photos of people performing Fire Poi, which is swinging around chains that have a bundle of wicking material at one end that are lit on fire. Luckily we met up before sunset and he mentioned that Gizmodo's challenge this week was Golden Hour. The Southbank was still full of people after the London Marathon today. We walked around and I took a few photos but nothing that seemed interesting and different. While walking past a book sale I saw some sunlight bouncing off the ground. It took two attempts to get the shot. I added a hint of extra saturation in post processing but nothing else was changed. Also had a lot of fun taking photos of the Fire Poi performance later in the evening. Nikon D90 with AF-S Nikkor 50mm lens, F/1.4, 1/3200s, ISO 1600.
- Ciarán O'Connor
I took this picture on top of Fryingpan tower in Western North Carolina. The tower was built in 1941 and is on top of the 5,340 foot Fryingpan mountain. It was scary climbing the rusty tower but it was worth it once I made it to the top. It was windy so I used a Gorilla pod to help keep things stable. Canon 7d and Tonkina 11-16 lens f2.8 iso 200 1/4000.
- Justin Mitchell
This shot was taken in the mountains Friday evening. The top of the mountain was lit up and the trees have long shadows. Rocky Mountain High.
The shot was taken with a Canon T1i on program settings. Enjoy!
- Blair Bartels