Magic Hour

Milos Bay Church Magic Hour by ChrisGoldNY

Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 Generic licence

Magic hour is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day, but not at the point of sunrise or sunset.

Lighting is more diffuse and softer and shadows are longer. When the Sun is near the horizon, sunlight travels through more of the atmosphere, reducing its intensity, so that more of the illumination comes from the sky. More blue light is scattered, so that light from the Sun appears more reddish. The Sun's small angle with the horizon produces longer shadows.

There is less contrast during the magic hour, shadows are less dark, and highlights are less likely to be overexposed. This can enhance the colours in landscape photography.