Magic hour... stupid question

S

skippyfetus

Carbonite Member
This is probably a stupid question, but when exactly is the magic hour... before or after sunset? To be honest, I think both look pretty nice and I've actually read that it is before and I've read that it is after. I know that it's not a full hour for one thing.

Before the sun sets, the sky starts to get purple and the light from the sun gets warmer and more directional. After the sun sets the light is still kinda directional, soft, and flattering, but now it's cool and purplish. You see a lot of both in movies and I guess it doesn't matter which one is actually the magic hour, but I'd like to know anyway.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

My understainding is that it's the last hour right before the sun completely disappears, but I may have it wrong.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

..yeah its pretty much anytime the sun is low or just slightly below the horizon, and you get that warm glow with a softer look and light from one side.

i also love shooting on overcast days.. when the sky is a huge softlight with all the cloud cover diffusing the sun. ..not alot of contrast, but you can add that in post. and it helps everything be within the dynamic range of the DVX..(or any video cam).
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

[quote author=iamloser link=board=Offtopic;num=1089965271;start=0#2 date=07/16/04 at 09:20:52]..yeah its pretty much anytime the sun is low or just slightly below the horizon, and you get that warm glow with a softer look and light from one side.  
 [/quote]

This is a particularly good time to shoot buildings downtown of wherever you are . . . and ESPECIALLY good if you happen to be in Kerry Park on the Counterbalance in Seattle, with a full moon and an unmolested view of Mt. Rainier . . .
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

.. i was shooting downtown during magic hour yesterday.. some awsome footage!..during a break in the shootig i started grabbing all the stock footage i could.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

Also, the magic hour only lasts for maybe twenty minutes in central lattitudes. The farther north, the longer your magic hour.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

I had one here in San Diego and didnt have time to shoot it. IT was really as spectacular as it could be. I called my wife out and sadi "Honey. Check out this light". It was perfect; soft and diffused, an amber (primrose maybe) glow, splashes of pinks in the horizon and the trees were spreckled with light.

My wife was like "Thats nice baby." and then went inside. :D
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

[quote author=John Hudson link=board=Offtopic;num=1089965271;start=0#7 date=07/16/04 at 11:53:48]I had one here in San Diego and didnt have time to shoot it.  IT was really as spectacular as it could be.  I called my wife out and sadi "Honey.  Check out this light".  It was perfect; soft and diffused, an amber (primrose maybe) glow, splashes of pinks in the horizon and the trees were spreckled with light.

My wife was like "Thats nice baby." and then went inside.  :D[/quote]

If you have a grip crew, it is not hard to simulate that. Of course, you need a 50x50 overhead, about 100k of instruments, and a $10,000 stretch of gold / transparent overhead material, but who needs to save money for art!
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

..nah you dont need 10,000 for the gold reflectors. i use wrapping paper glued to foam core. .. most craft stores have any kind of wrapping paper you could ask for,, or sheets of thick paper in all sorts of finishes. about 1.25 for a 2x3 sheet of gold-silver-black-white-satin- .. its sort of like foam core but thinner. works awesome.. or you can buy it in rolls with the wrapping paper, and glue it or tape it to anything,,then you get about 3 feet x 20 feet or so of it in about ANY finish for reflectors you could want. at about 1-2 buck a roll.

.. very DYI but has equally marvelous results at a fraction of the cost!
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

[quote author=iamloser link=board=Offtopic;num=1089965271;start=0#9 date=07/16/04 at 12:15:37]..nah you dont need 10,000 for the gold reflectors. i use wrapping paper glued to foam core. .. most craft stores have any kind of wrapping paper you could ask for,, or sheets of thick paper in all sorts of finishes. about 1.25 for a 2x3 sheet of gold-silver-black-white-satin- .. its sort of like foam core but thinner. works awesome.. or you can buy it in rolls with the wrapping paper, and glue it or tape it to anything,,then you get about 3 feet x 20 feet or so of it in about ANY finish for reflectors you could want. at about 1-2 buck a roll.

.. very DYI but has equally marvelous results at a fraction of the cost!  [/quote]

Yeah, but the overhead is way cooler looking on set for when you have to fire all those talent.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

Per John H Post "My wife was like "Thats nice baby." and then went inside.
John, Did you follow? Kinda sounded like a invite.. :o
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

are you insane? the magic hour is always
5:00pm in the winter
6:00 pm in the fall.
7:45 pmin the spring.
8:00 pm in the summer.

i was planning a whole movie just around the magic hour. it would be a special project. also good for shooting post apocalyptic, indy, talking heads movies.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

[quote author=DvPixl link=board=Offtopic;num=1089965271;start=0#12 date=07/17/04 at 00:11:35]are you insane? the magic hour is always
5:00pm in the winter
6:00 pm in the fall.
7:45 pmin the spring.
8:00 pm in the summer.

i was planning a whole movie just around the magic hour. it would be a special project. also good for shooting post apocalyptic, indy, talking heads movies.

[/quote]

Incorrect. The magic hour changes constantly across the year. The times you mention are good guidelines for mid-latitude shoots, but A shooter in Toronto has a different magic hour than one in Tampa.

I wrote a shooters guide for this year and looking at it, a shooter in Tampa will find that the magic hour will start at 7.00 a.m. almost on the nose, with detectable twighlight at 6.36 a.m., while at night sunset is 8.08 a.m. with magic hour starting at 7.54 a.m. and the twightlight window ending at 8.32 a.m. In Buffalo, New York magic hour on that same date starts at 6.22 a.m. a full 38 minutes earlier and lasts nearly twice as long.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

yes Slapdragon you are fantabulously right as well. I should have mentioned the AMs too but I was fixated on PMs. my mistake.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

when she said "thats nice baby" did she sound like barry White?

maybe it was an invite
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

[quote author=DvPixl link=board=Offtopic;num=1089965271;start=0#14 date=07/17/04 at 00:25:49]yes Slapdragon you are fantabulously right as well. I should have mentioned the AMs too but I was fixated on PMs. my mistake.
[/quote]

Sorry about that, I just used a.m. as a guideline, but this works for P.M. also. Magic hour is a constantly variable period of time starting anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes before sunset / ending 15 to 45 minutes after sunrise, and there is no single time, or even four times a year you can accurately predict it. Your times work as guidelines for shoot calls, but a DP should figure magic hour based on their handy almanac.

That is why I can tell you this morning your magic hour this morning will start at around 5.40 and last around 32 minutes should you choose to step outside of your apartment (with 5.40 being a bit dark, and by 6.15 much of the effect will have gone), that for shooting between buildings down the cities East / West streets 1.02 p.m. will be your "straight up" or high noon time, and your sunset will be at 8.24 p.m. with golden hour starting at 7.52 p.m. and twighlight ending at almost 9.00 p.m. (although shooting will have long since stopped.) Thus for you, your prediction works for golden hour right now, but next month on this date sunset will be 34 minutes earlier and golden hour will last less than thirty minutes, and if you take a job in Miami golden hour will start ten minutes earlier and last a few minutes less.
 
Re: Magic hour... stupid question

but remember people.. never use the morning and night magic hour in the same scene..unless you can hide, or cheat the fact that the light is coming from opposite sides..

beliee it or not, ive seen some junky films where this was incredibly obviously done.
 
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