Solstice Light

image copyright greg wall 2025

At the last meeting of my camera club I made the assignment for July to be Solstice Light.

Folks reasonably asked what the heck that meant.

Here in the northern hemisphere, we understand that about June 20th we have the day with the greatest amount of daylight and the solstice is when the seasonal change happens from spring to summer and the amount of daylight over the course of the day starts to diminish, often referred to as the days getting shorter.

But something else is happening. The relative position of the sun in the sky changes and if you have ever done the seasons exercise (a photograph on a clear day, on or about the solstices and equinoxes), you know how the look of the light changes around these times.

In order to capture this shift or transition, we are best to grab images just after sunrise and just before sunset. This allows us to maximize the three key elements of light, direction, colour and quality, where quality refers to the level of softness or harshness of the light.

We have refer to these periods as “golden hour”. The light tends to be warmer with gentle shadows and reduced contrast. It is ideal for portraits and to reveal textures in landscapes because the sun is low in the sky and is sort of scraping across the land. Many photographers eschew shooting in daylight at any other time because golden hour light is so much nicer than the light at noon or in the afternoon.

But there is another period that happens just before sunrise and just after sunset called the blue hour. It’s actually more like between 20 and 40 minutes but if you manage your time and position you can get both golden and blue hour light in a single trip.

Blue hour light is bluer, cooler, and the illumination while low is very soft indeed. It is particularly enhancing for shiny surfaces and when you want the sky to be deep blue and even violet without needing to futz in post. For a long time, certainly when I was an apprentice, blue hour was when we shot the double spreads for new cars, because the light worked so well with shiny paint and chrome and we could do so supplemental lighting that didn’t scream out “look at me” to viewers. It’s beautiful, but in a completely different way to golden hour light.

There are other things that happen at the solstice, the days can be warm, but the nights are cool, so farmland and grasslands often exhibit misting and the reflectance of dew. You won’t see this at any other time of day so to get these images, you have to be up early and out before sunrise or out later in the day and spend the time before and after sunset.

It’s a great exercise and with a little prep, like your weather app you can be in the right place at the right time for some pretty awesome looking shots. And if you have never shot at blue or golden hour, once you have, you’ll understand why serious landscape photographers have naps during the day, because the light just doesn’t compare.

Wrapping Up

It costs nothing, and can be done wherever you are. So get up and go try it out. You have nothing to lose and lots to gain. I want to thank my dear friend Greg Wall for the use of his assignment submission that demonstrates solstice light so very well.

Please become a member on Patreon to help support this channel. A big thanks to all the existing Patreon members! Send in comments or questions, I read and respond to all. If you shop with B&H Photo Video, please use the link on the main page as it pays me a small commission and does not cost you anything to do so. Thanks again and we will see each other again soon.