Ive heard of the Golden hour but Blue hour?

[photokiwi]

hi,

Ive heard of the Golden hour but what is the Blue hour? It was part of the caption for a night-time photo in a photo mag. Can anyone please tell me what it is?

[robpendragon]

Blue Hour, or "l'heure bleue" is a French expression that refers to the time of day between daylight sun and dusk. It is this time that is considered to have the best light quality for a photographer.

[lowbone]

One hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset are considered to be the best times for photography, sometimes reffered to as the sweet light.

[ljameso1]

I believe they are actually referring to the time 1 hour after sunset. I love this time for city light shots as the sky takes on a deep blue tone before going to black.

[photokiwi]

thanks for the replies. ljameso1 i think you are correct. I know the Golden hour is the hour before sunset, so it would make sense that blue hour is the hour AFTER sunset and since it was a night time photo i think this is the case. cheers!

[Not4wood]

I think the Blue Hour is the time when the light is in the harder to see glary kind of light when its dark but you can still see and the street lights are now on.

Here is a shot I had taken 2 weeks ago in Wales that I think is almost the time in question. Its still light enough to see, but the Sunset colors haven't kicked in yet.

http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/files/1/5/3/1/4/framed_port_merion_thumb.jpg (http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=6764&c=member&imageuser=15314)

[ljameso1]

Here is an example of twilight which is occasionally referred to as the blue hour. Note sunset colors are done and sky deep blue which will slowly darken to navy before going black.

[Not4wood]

Nice shot ljameso1, but you bring up a good point.

We now have two blue lights, before the Golden light and after. Mine is right before, and yours is I think more Twilight like you mentioned but to me its still falls into the Blue Light (after the Golden Light) area as well.

With keeping an open mind I would say they both might be correct in keeping with the artistic ability of a good light to Photograph. Anybody else?

[lexcell]

The times you all mention are good light hours. But, the description of blue light is more that twilight time when the sun has gone down and the sky becomes that beautiful blue color before going too dark. Didigtal does a great job in blue light. I love the color and ambience of blue light.
Shooting on a cloudy day or in shade gives images a blue cast but, does not fall into the category of blue light. That's more of a color cast that you want to remove where the blue light is something that is very lovely.
You can kind of fake the blue light look by going into incandescent mode and getting a bluer look to your images.
If anyone is familiar with Joe McNally's work I know he will often set his camera to incandescent mode to make the ambient light bluish and then add a warm gel to his flash to warm up the subject. It's a very nice look.
www.joemcnally.com