The challenges of photographing during golden hour in the mountains

Nature photographers always seek the best light for their photos, often during golden hour, when the sun’s low angle casts long, dramatic shadows, and the light changes to orange and red colors as it diffuses through more of the atmosphere.

The golden hour is the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, and for many scenes, you only need to photograph during that hour to take advantage of the sweet light. But when you are close to the mountains or photographing deep canyons, your scene may already be in shadow during golden hour. We’ve had many experiences where the scene remains in shadow for two or more hours after sunrise or before sunset. While the light on the scene is diffuse during these times, the benefits of golden hour are no longer available for your photos.

Understand the terrain

Golden hour photography often doesn’t work in the mountains because the sun is blocked well after sunrise or before sunset. The higher the surrounding terrain and the closer you are to the mountains, the worse the problem.

Mountain ranges

When photographing in front of a mountain range that runs north to south, the sun is often not obscured on one side of the mountains. For example, when photographing the Teton Range in Wyoming, the sun sets behind the mountains, creating a backlit scene with the mountains in shadow well before the golden hour. However, at sunrise, the range is well-lit by golden light.

Teton Range at sunset — The Tetons are heavily backlit during sunset, with the mountains lying in shadow.

Sunrise over the Tetons — Golden sunlight hits the Teton Range in Wyoming

Mountain valleys

When photographing in a valley with mountains on both sides, the mountains may block the golden hour during sunrise and sunset if the valley runs north to south. Death Valley National Park is an example of this topography. When the light finally turns golden on the mountain peaks, most of the scene is in shadows.

Ibex Dunes - Death Valley National Park — By the time the light is golden on these Death Valley mountains, the dunes in the foreground are already in the shadow cast by the mountains behind the photographer.

In the mountains

When hiking in the mountains, mountains are in all directions, often blocking sunlight on the lower elevations until well after sunrise and before sunset.

Cascade Mountains at sunrise — Shortly after sunrise, the light on the mountain peaks was golden. However, most brightly-colored larches did not receive sunlight until nearly two hours later.

Managing the light in the mountains

During mountain photography, you may feel disappointed after arriving early for sunrise or sunset to find that your preferred scene is deep in shadow. Here are a few ways to photograph around mountainous or canyon areas successfully.

Move to a higher elevation

Heading to a higher elevation minimizes the angle between you and the mountains and gives a better chance for golden light in your scene.

Dantes View - Death Valley National Park — Dante’s View in Death Valley offers a high viewpoint, allowing golden light to fall on the foreground. Note that the distant mountains and the valley floor are still in shadow.

Use the clouds

When there is partial cloud cover in the sky, there is usually a short period just after sunrise or before sunset when the sun lights up the clouds from an angle below them. This brief window where the clouds are lit from below can produce fantastic and quickly changing colors, even when photographing behind mountains.

Mt. Shuksan reflected in Picture Lake at sunrise — While the entire scene is in the shade, the colorful soft light reflected off the clouds at sunrise nicely lights up Mt. Shuksan and its reflection.

Calculate when sunlight will hit your scene

You could wait longer after sunrise or arrive earlier before sunset to catch the light at its lowest angle for the scene, though this technique requires time and patience.

Larch grove in Washington's Cascade Mountains — This larch grove was not lit nicely until nearly two hours after sunrise, long after golden hour had passed.

You can also use apps or online resources to calculate shade in a scene. One site called ShadeMap does precisely this. Apps like PhotoPills and The Photographers Ephemeris also allow you to estimate when the sun will crest over mountains and obstacles.

Another simple approach is to use Google Maps’ terrain view. Locate the scene you plan to photograph on the map and check if the terrain is blocking the sun from the west or the east.

Photograph streams and waterfalls

Waterfalls and moving streams can be challenging to photograph in direct sunlight due to the excessive highlights on the moving water. Use the time while they are in the shade to photograph them.

Adjust the white balance for shadows

When the mountains obscure golden hour light, you may still photograph a scene in shadow. The color temperature of the sky will be warm, with golden hues. The shaded land will be quite blue, as it is only lit by light reflected off the sky.

When editing the photos of scenes lit this way, it helps to select the shaded land and warm up its color temperature to bring it closer to that of the sky.