Golden Hour Photography: 3 Presets for Flawless Photo Edits

It’s no wonder why so many professional photographers adore golden hour photography. It’s a seemingly magical time when soft golden tones radiate across the landscape, gently bathing everything in radiant, warm colors.

But we’re gifted with this golden hour time only twice each day, roughly an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. If you want to make the most of it and capture the perfect golden hour sunset photos, you’ll need to time it right and understand how to harness the beauty of this captivating light to your best advantage.

Tips To Take the Best Pictures During Golden Hour

Shooting during these times, whether in the morning golden hour or the evening equivalent, can result in gorgeous, one-of-a-kind artistic images that really resonate with viewers. The key to capturing that twilight magic lies in mastering golden hour lighting and composition. The following tips are a great place to start.

• Scout your location in advance. Pick a spot that won’t be obscured by other shadows or competing with the sun, which will be low on the horizon. Position your subject so the golden hour light illuminates them from behind, creating a glowing halo effect.
• Experiment with direct and indirect sunlight. The golden hour sunset provides ample warm tones and soft lighting, but don’t be afraid to try something different than conventional front-lit shots.
• Be ready. If your goal is to snap a bunch of golden hour pics, you won’t have much time. The golden hour passes quickly. Use apps or sunrise and sunset charts to know exactly when it will begin, and be sure to set up your gear ahead of time.
• Use reflectors. These can help bounce light back onto your subject and fill any shadows with a buttery golden glow.
• Check your camera settings. Though you should experiment with your golden hour presets, you may want to lower your ISO and use wider aperture settings to let in more light.

And remember, practice makes perfect. Not every golden hour pic you take will be a masterpiece, but every shot will bring you closer to capturing that perfect image in your unique style.

Top 3 Presets To Edit Your Golden Hour Photos

After you’ve snapped a bunch of pictures you’re hopeful about, editing is the next important step. Here, the perfect presets can help you consistently achieve a professional, flawless look.

Let’s take a closer look at three Mastin Labs presets that are great choices for refining your golden hour photos, no matter your personal editing style.

1. Fuji Original Desktop Presets

Fuji Original is a great place to start. Favored for peachy, warm tones, Fuji Original presets offer a light, ethereal look. They’re perfect for counterbalancing the harshness of sunset photos, infusing images with subtler hues without sacrificing that beautiful golden glow.

These presets help retain that ethereal feel of the golden hour, meaning only minor adjustments to exposure, contrast, and saturation are all you’ll need during editing.

2. Cinema Everyday Capture One Preset Collection

In some shots, the bright oranges of a vibrant sunset can feel overpowering. That’s when the Cinema Everyday pack can come to your rescue. It provides cooler, desaturated tones to your golden hour pics, giving them a classic cinematic feel. This pack redefines and tames the intensity of warmer colors, making it an excellent option for anyone going for an understated yet dignified editing style.

3. Lifestyle Everyday Preset Pack for Adobe Lightroom

Last but not least, the versatile and fun Lifestyle Everyday pack is perfect for enhancing the skin tones of subjects captured in golden hour light. These presets lift shadows, giving you more detail and depth.

The Lifestyle Everyday collection creates images that feel alive, making it a brilliant choice for lifestyle photographers taking golden hour sunset shots.

Simplify Editing Your Beautiful Photos With Mastin Labs

Editing your golden hour photography with Mastin Labs presets can produce stunning results that capture exactly the feel you’re going for—and the hearts of your audience. These tools even out overly warm tones while preserving the soft, mystical charm of golden hour lighting to keep your editing style consistent across every project.

Whether highlighting warm skin tones in a stunning morning golden hour portrait or taming intensely warm colors in a bold sunset landscape, these presets help produce captivating results in minutes.