Magic Hour/Golden Hour

In photography there is a magic moment in a small but beautiful 1-1.5 hour time frame where there is peace in the world. The rich give to the poor, there is no such thing as poverty, everybody has food on their table, republicans and democrats decide to actually work together and find out ways to help pass laws that would benefit the people, and law enforcement throughout the nation serve to protect instead to serve and intimidate….
O.k o.k, sadly there is no such thing as what I stated before, but there is a beautiful but small time frame called "The Magic Hour / Golden Hour".

Think of how beautiful it looks to see a sunset or even to stay up and see a sunrise. Photographers love this small time frame.
When it comes to outdoors, light can drastically change in so little time.
It is important to keep changing your camera settings to compensate to the change of light.

For me the best time to shoot is right before the sun goes down. I love this look !!! There is so much detail on the clouds and the colors of the sky are just awesomely beautiful.

In this picture we have a very pretty subject named Gloribel. There was some previous pictures that I took before this but I just fell in love with this capture. Due to the fact that I was able to use wide apertures, it helped me to somewhat blur the background but yet show enough detail in the clouds.

Lisa Lisa Lisa!!!! This BRAVE soul named Lisa was patient enough to stick through so much Lake Shore Drive and Lincoln Park traffic due to a marathon that was going on the time. This picture was not planned at all. We were supposed to have a shoot an hour earlier at a location by Lincoln Park Zoo but we could not find parking. With some quick thinking, I decided to move the shoot to Montrose Harbor…now it was just a matter of time. Things worked out for the best because we managed to get there and set up my lighting equipment to capture Lisa as the Sun was setting in the west. I took a minute or so to show her the pictures I had taken. She loved them and I decided to keep on shooting. Little did I know, there was hardly any sunlight left and the shoot had come to an end after a few more pics. We both left happy with the results…oh and I wrote the words "BRAVE" in bold because she was literally sitting on the edge of the harbor and with one wrong move, she or her lovely heels could've fallen into the lake.

Yes, the light right before a sunset is beautiful but so is the light right after a sunrise. I admire Claudia for waking up so early and to actually commute to Chicago from the suburbs for this shoot. She got here right on time for me to capture her as the Sun came up.

I recommend any starting or advanced photographer to shoot at these times. They don't require much flash or strobe power to overpower the Sun. I  also advice anybody to just look up at the skies during this "Magic Hour" moment and let it soak in on how beautiful life is if you take the time to actually clear your mind from all worries and admire what we have the privilege to enjoy each living day.

Feel free to go to www.OsvaldoAlvarado.com and click on to the social media links to see more of these photos.
If you want to follow these beautiful girls on Instagram or Twitter feel free to do so.

(Gloribel)
Instagram: @gloribelvilla

(Lisa)
Fb: www.facebook.com/LisaLassi77
Instagram: @lisalassi77
Twitter: @lisalassi77

(Claudia)
Instagram: @stephaneeaahh_

(Osvaldo Alvarado)
FB: www.facebook.com/OsvaldoAlvaradoPhotography
Instagram: @obie0310
Twitter: @obie0310
website: www.OsvaldoAlvarado.com