Basic Photography | Capturing Blue Hour Photography

© Wazari Wazir | Petronas Twin Tower at Kuala Lumpur City Centre ( KLCC ) | Blue Hour Photography

According to Wikipedia The Blue Hour comes from the French expression “l’heure bleue,” which refers to the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. The time is considered special because of the quality of the light at this time of day. The time just before sunrise or after sunset.

Among the most favorite subject for Blue Hour photography is landscape, building or cityscapes. I’m not an expert on this subject because I rarely shoot landscape, building or cityscape but nevertheless I do know that the best time to get a great shot about the subjects is during blue hour. Take for an example the photograph of Malaysia famous landmark above, the Petronas Twin Tower, if I were to take that shot when the sky is in complete darkness, some part of the building which is in the dark area will be blend together with the darkness and only leaving the twin tower to stand out but I need other structure to “frame” the towers and I must get it fast before everything blend together with the darkness.

The photograph above were taken just after sunset, when I’m having a breaking fast  near the water fountain which is located just in front of the twin tower. I did not planned to get this shot, hence I didn’t bring a tripod with me, this photograph were taken handheld using ISO 1250 at aperture f/4 and using a slow shutter speed of 1/25 with my 24mm lens on a full frame camera body. I do take quite a few shot just to make sure that I get the sharp one because I’m using slow shutter speed which prone to camera shake or blurry picture.

If I were to planned to photograph this building during blue hour, I will definitely get a tripod, use the lowest ISO and use smaller aperture to get the best quality image possible but thanks to the advancement of the latest camera technology, I still manage to get a decent shot of this famous Malaysian landmark by using High ISO. It may not as great as using ISO 100 but good enough for me.

Once again Blue Hour refer to the time just before the sunrise or just after the sunset. Actually for this type of photography, you need to plan well ahead, you will never get a perfect blue hour everyday, depending on your location and the current weather, sometimes the sky just plain grey and suddenly turn into complete darkness. One thing for sure, you need to work fast because blue hour won’t stay for long, usually in less than an hour, it will be total darkness of the sky and that’s why you need to plan well ahead, decided where you want to photograph, where you want to set your tripod, especially if you want to photograph a gigantic structure like this Petronas Twin Tower. You can’t cover many angles within short span of times, maybe this time you want to photograph from this angle and maybe next time you want to photograph from a different angle or perspective.

Now you know what is “Blue Hour Photography”, knowing what is blue hour photography is one thing and to make the best out of it is another story. Preplanned your next outing and be proud of your very own Blue Hour Photography.