Time of Day

Time of Day.
Probably the most important factor in outdoor photography.

Below is Prince of Peach church and school in Carrollton, TX.

This was my ultimate choice, about an hour and a half before sunset.

Here’s the same shot, but with cloud cover. Depending on the day, you might have to wait anywhere from a few seconds to 30 minutes to get some nice good sunlight.

Golden Hour:
Right when the sun is on the horizon. Everything looks golden and this is the “ideal” time to photography. There are exceptions, like in this case.

Early Twilight. This is the phase where the lights outside as just slightly dimmer than the ambient light.

Twilight. This is usually a winner. The outdoor lighting is strong enough to act as accents, but the ambient still does good work.

Late twilight.. I don’t have a photo, but as a general rule, you never want to photography at pure night. When a client asks for night shots, I make sure they’re late twilight shots. Like this:

Notice how at “night”, you wouldn’t see the top of the bridge or all the post or even the water edge.