How to Extend Your Sunset Shooting With Strobe Lighting

Most of us know that the golden hour is one of the best times for outdoor photography, but what happens when the light fades just a little too much? Do we call it a day? Not according to Jay P. Morgan. Just bring along a Speedlite or two and a Pocket Wizard, and you’ll find your window of opportunity growing considerably. Here’s how:

As Morgan illustrates, using strobes allows you to keep the lighting on the foreground constant, even while the ambient light is changing. Once you get your foreground lighting dialed in, all you have to do is keep increasing the exposure time as the light decreases in the background. Assuming your talent can stay still for up to a minute at a time, you’ll be golden (pun intended). Here’s Morgan’s setup:

Using Strobes Diagram

Lighting Diagram

Equipment Used

In the end, he got some fine shots.

after dark portraits with speedlites

What about you? Do you have any secret for golden hour shooting as the golden hour is slipping away?

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