Follow these 5 tips to help you utilize the photography “golden hour”

Good lighting is so essential to producing quality photographs. When taking shots outside, learn to use the golden hour of photography to take the best natural lit photos possible. Follow these 5 tips to help you utilize the photography "golden hour".
The "golden hour" is actually the hours surrounding sunrise and sunset. These are great times of the day to best use the natural light from the sky to take some fantastic photos. Keep these tips in mind when taking shots during the photography "golden hour".
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1. Show up
One tip that should be obvious is showing up during these critical morning and evening hours. The trick to this is knowing when to get to your destination to catch the light of the golden hour. You should be fine as long as you know your seasons, since the time the sun rises and sets is based on what time of year it is.
2. Be prepared
You want to be ready way ahead of time to not miss out on shooting during the golden hours of the day. You don't want to set up your camera and equipment to have the golden hour pass by you. Prepare even hours ahead of time to be ready to go.
3. Fill flash
Since the lighting will still be dark in those morning and evening hours, adding flash is a great idea. Use an on-camera flash, off-camera flash, or other light source to add light to these shots. Move the flash closer to whatever you are shooting to add light, and move it away to take away light from bright shots.
4. Exposure
Exposure won't be as harsh as other times of the day, but you still want to play around with it. Use different brightness levels until the lighting is at the exposure you want it. You can also play with your camera’s exposure compensation to get the light and shadow correct.
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5. Set color
White balance might be incorrect when using several sources of light. Test out different white balance settings while taking shots in the morning and evening. You can also change these settings during post-processing.