How Time of Day can Impact a Photo Session

Light plays such an important part in a photographer’s work – it is actually, I would say, the number one thing that photographers should pay attention to when creating their images. After all, a photo is simply a capture of light. 

I wanted to write this post to share some differences in light quality and how it can impact a session. To be clear, it is not really the time of day that has an impact on your images, but rather the direction and quality of the light available that specific day, at that specific time of day. So, photographing on a. sunny day at noon will yield a very different result to photographing during a cloudy day at noon.

Generally speaking though, mornings and early afternoon tend to have direct light shining high up, while evenings and the time after sunrise show a different quality. For illustrative purposes here’s a comparison of two family sessions at the same location, one of my favorites in Chicago: Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, and roughly around the same time of the year. One session, however, happened in the morning with peak unfiltered sun, and the other happened at golden hour, close to sunset time. 

Vibrancy of colors: Direct light results in more vibrant colors, whereas indirect light dones more muted colors. And then, closer to golden hour (roughly the hour before the sun sets, or the hour as it is rising in the morning) you can get an orangy-golden glow on skin tones that can be very beautiful. 

Morning Session: more vibrant colors when lit directly. Shadows are also stronger and there is more contrast. 

Evening Session: mutted tones and golden tones on skin and bodies. Hair, plants, and trees can show a “rim glow” when backlit. 

Haziness:

The direction of the light can create some intended (or unintended) effects in your images. When the sun “gets” into your image it can create a hazy effect, or result in sunbeams or rays that can be creative. This can happen at all times of day, but can be stronger in harsh daylight. Ultimately, photographers have options, by deciding where to place their subjects in relation to the light, backlighting, sidelighting or frontlighting their subjects. 

Morning session: sparkling water creates a beautiful, dreamy effect, some haziness in images where sun is “in the frame”, sunbeams can be seen in some images.

Afternoon session: less haziness, more even tones.

Mood:

The mood of the images feels different too. Daylight sessions, for me, feel more “fun, lively, bright, loud” whereas evening sessions tend to be more “dreamy, pensive, ethereal, private, cozy”. Neither one is right or wrong, it is just a matter of personal preference and interpretation. 

Morning session: to me this session feels wild, fun, full of joy and laughter

Afternoon session: to me this session feels cozy, familiar, loving, soft

What do you think? Do you feel a preference towards one session or another?