Why You Shouldn’t Rely Only on Golden Hour (and How to Photograph All Day)

Introduction

If you’ve read any landscape photography advice, you’ve probably been told that the only time to shoot is at golden hour — those magical windows just after sunrise and just before sunset when the light is soft, warm, and directional.

And yes, golden hour is special. But if you only pick up your camera during those times, you’re missing out on a whole world of photographic opportunities. Great landscape photography doesn’t come from the clock — it comes from how you see, adapt, and work with the conditions at any hour of the day.

Here’s why you shouldn’t rely solely on golden hour — and how to make the most of light all day long.

1. The Reality: Golden Hour Is Short

Golden hour lasts around 30–60 minutes depending on the season and location. If you limit yourself to this window, you’re restricting your creative opportunities. Landscapes are dynamic, and light shifts constantly — the rest of the day offers textures, moods, and stories that golden hour can’t.

2. Midday Light Can Be Dramatic

• Why it’s overlooked: Harsh midday sun is often seen as “unphotogenic.”

• Why it works: That strong overhead light can bring out textures in rocks, emphasize the starkness of a moorland, or create dramatic contrasts in desert or coastal scenes.

• How to use it:

  • Look for graphic shadows and bold shapes.

  • Shoot black and white — midday contrast can be perfect for monochrome work.

  • Use polarising filters to cut glare and enrich colours.

3. Cloudy Days Are Your Secret Weapon

Flat, overcast light may feel uninspiring, but it’s actually one of the best conditions for certain subjects.

• Waterfalls: Soft light avoids blown-out highlights and brings out detail in flowing water.

• Woodlands: Diffused light reduces harsh shadows, letting subtle greens and textures come alive.

• Macro details: Moss, fungi, wildflowers — all shine under even light.

4. Storm Light Creates Atmosphere

Some of the most dramatic images happen between weather systems — when dark clouds split to reveal sudden beams of light, or mist clings to a valley just as the rain clears. These fleeting moments don’t follow the golden hour rule — they happen randomly, often in the middle of the day.

👉 Pro tip: Learn to read the weather and be patient on location. Sometimes waiting out a storm brings more drama than any sunrise could.

5. Blue Hour Isn’t Just for Sunrise and Sunset

The cool tones of blue hour — that twilight glow before sunrise and after sunset — are perfect for moody landscapes, cityscapes, and astrophotography prep. But you can also experiment with long exposures to capture movement (waves, clouds, traffic trails) in a way that daytime golden light can’t match.

6. Night and Astro Photography

When the sun disappears, the creative possibilities don’t. The North Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, and many UK national parks are Dark Sky areas, making them perfect for Milky Way, star trails, and moonlit landscapes. With the right gear and technique, midnight can be as magical as sunrise.

7. The Creative Benefit: Learning to See Differently

If you only rely on golden hour, you’re letting the light do all the work. Shooting throughout the day forces you to:

• Think harder about composition.

• Look for textures, shapes, and contrasts instead of just colour.

• Adapt to conditions, which strengthens your skills as a photographer.

• Develop a unique style, rather than chasing the same warm light as everyone else.

Practical Tips for Photographing All Day

• Carry filters: A polariser and ND filters will help you handle midday glare and allow long exposures in bright light.

• Switch focal lengths: Use a telephoto to isolate details when the wider scene looks flat.

• Experiment with black & white: Harsh or high-contrast light translates beautifully into monochrome.

• Embrace weather: Don’t cancel a shoot because of clouds, fog, or rain — they often make the best conditions.

• Stay longer: Light changes constantly. Sometimes 20 minutes after “bad light,” everything transforms.

FAQ: Shooting Beyond Golden Hour in Landscape Photography

Is golden hour really the best time for landscape photography?
Golden hour often provides soft, warm light that flatters landscapes, which is why it’s so popular. However, it’s not the only good time — cloudy days, storm light, blue hour, and even midday sun can produce equally powerful images if you know how to use them.

How do you photograph landscapes in harsh midday light?
Use a polarising filter to cut glare, look for strong shadows and graphic shapes, and consider shooting in black and white. Telephoto lenses are also useful for isolating details when the wider scene looks flat.

What’s the best light for photographing waterfalls and woodlands?
Overcast conditions are ideal. Soft, diffused light reduces harsh shadows and prevents highlights from blowing out, helping subtle colours and textures shine through.

Can you do long exposures during the day?
Yes — with the help of neutral density (ND) filters. These reduce the amount of light entering your lens, allowing you to use slower shutter speeds for silky waterfalls, smooth seas, or streaking clouds, even in bright daylight.

Is blue hour good for landscape photography?
Absolutely. Blue hour provides cool, moody tones and works beautifully with long exposures. It’s also a great time for cityscapes, seascapes, and astrophotography prep.

What is storm light in photography?
Storm light occurs when dramatic weather — like rain, mist, or dark clouds — meets sudden breaks of sunlight. These conditions often create high-contrast, atmospheric scenes that are far more dramatic than golden hour alone.

Conclusion

Golden hour is beautiful, but it’s not the only time that landscapes deserve your camera. By embracing every hour of the day, you’ll create more varied, original work and grow as a photographer. Some of your strongest images might not come bathed in golden light — they might come under storm clouds, at noon, or even in the dead of night.

Landscape photography isn’t about waiting for perfect light. It’s about learning to see the beauty in all light.

One Lens, One Journey: Exploring Abruzzo with the Sigma 16-300mm for Fujifilm X

Earlier this spring, I embarked on an exhilarating photographic journey through one of Italy’s best-kept secrets — the wild and poetic region of Abruzzo. Nestled gracefully between the shimmering Adriatic Sea and the towering Apennine Mountains, Abruzzo is a land of striking contrast: craggy, rugged mountains rise majestically, lush green valleys stretch invitingly, and ancient villages cling tenaciously to the hillsides. This enchanting area boasts an untamed spirit that feels delightfully worlds away from the heavily trodden tourist corridors of Rome or the picturesque landscapes of Tuscany, making it a perfect destination for exploration and creativity.

The Magic of Abruzzo’s Light and Weather

One of the most captivating aspects of this part of Italy — and a major reason I keep returning — is the ever-changing weather that sweeps dramatically through the mountains. In Abruzzo, the elements seem to have a life of their own. One moment, the sky is clear and soft with early morning haze; the next, heavy clouds are tumbling over the ridgelines, casting dynamic shadows across the valleys. It's this constant flux — the interplay of light, mist, and atmosphere — that creates a dreamlike canvas for photography.

I've visited Abruzzo four times now, and each trip has offered entirely different conditions, moods, and photographic opportunities. Whether it's the golden afterglow of a storm clearing over the Gran Sasso, or a veil of fog lifting slowly from the rolling plains of Campo Imperatore, this region has a way of transforming even the most familiar scenes into something new and unexpected.

There’s a particular quality to the light here — it’s soft yet dramatic, shaped by the altitude and the shifting mountain air. The landscape can go from harsh and contrasty to muted and painterly in a matter of minutes. As a photographer, this is where the magic lives: those transitional moments when the light breaks through, catches on a hillside, or highlights a single ridge while the valley below stays in shadow.

That unpredictability, far from being frustrating, is what makes photographing in Abruzzo so rewarding. You’re always on alert, always scanning the horizon, ready to adapt. And with a lens like the Sigma 16-300mm, I could react quickly to these changing scenes — zooming wide to capture the drama of an approaching storm, then punching in tight as a ray of light skimmed across a distant peak.

Abruzzo doesn’t offer the postcard predictability of some more well-trodden Italian regions. It offers something far more compelling — wild, raw, honest beauty shaped by nature’s whim. And no matter how many times I return, it never fails to surprise, challenge, and inspire.

But what made this trip truly different wasn’t merely the stunning location — it was the innovative gear I chose to bring along with me. For the very first time on a significant photography adventure, I decided to challenge myself by using just one lens: the newly released Sigma 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 specifically designed for the Fujifilm X mount. My goal was to thoroughly test the limits of this versatile all-in-one superzoom lens — to determine whether one lens could genuinely be sufficient to handle a variety of photographic needs. Could it effectively keep up with the ever-changing demands of capturing landscape scenes, travel moments, intricate details, and even the unpredictable nature of wildlife photography?

After ten days in Abruzzo, I have my answer — and it surprised me in the best possible way.

Why I Chose the Sigma 16-300mm

Packing for a photography trip often involves agonizing over gear choices: Do I take the wide-angle for sweeping vistas? The telephoto for distant peaks? The fast prime for low light and subject separation? This time, I decided to travel lighter and smarter — or at least, test whether that was possible.

Sigma’s 16-300mm offers a whopping 18.75x zoom range, effectively replacing a bag full of lenses. On paper, it's ideal for travel and landscape shooters who value versatility, and with the recent release of the Fujifilm X mount version, it made perfect sense to put it through its paces.

Fitted to my Fujifilm X-T4, the lens felt reassuringly solid. It’s not a featherweight lens, but considering the range it covers, it’s remarkably compact and balances nicely on the X-T4 body. The build quality is typical Sigma — no frills but robust and dependable, with a weather-resistant mount that’s a welcome addition for landscape photographers.

Day 1–3: Gran Sasso and Campo Imperatore – The Power of Wide and Far

My journey began in Gran Sasso d’Italia, Italy’s highest mountain range south of the Alps. The Campo Imperatore plateau, often referred to as “Little Tibet,” offered the kind of vast, rolling terrain and dramatic skies that beg for a wide-angle lens. At 16mm, I could do full justice to the grandeur of the landscape — layered foothills leading up to snow-capped peaks, under dramatic light that shifted minute by minute.

On one early morning hike across the Campo Imperatore plateau, low clouds drifted silently over the open plains as the first light of day broke over the Apennines. The sun rose slowly, casting a soft, golden glow across the frost-covered grass and highlighting the delicate textures of the landscape. With the Sigma 16-300mm mounted on my camera, I was able to capture expansive environmental shots at 16mm, truly conveying the vastness and ethereal beauty of the scene. Moments later, I could effortlessly zoom in to pick out intimate details. The ability to transition instantly from wide to telephoto without changing lenses made me feel completely in sync with the moment — responsive, unobtrusive, and fully immersed in the unfolding scene. Autofocus at both ends of the zoom range proved surprisingly fast and reliable. It wasn’t as lightning-quick as a dedicated Fujinon prime, but it never left me struggling either. For a superzoom, it performed amazingly well.

Day 4–5: Medieval Villages and Narrow Streets – A Travel Photographer’s Dream

From the wilderness of the mountains, I descended into the heart of Abruzzo’s historic hill towns: Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Castel del Monte

These towns are a photographer’s paradise, with textured walls, crumbling stone, narrow passages, and lived-in charm. Here, the 16-300mm shined again — I could quickly switch from a wide shot of a cobbled alleyway to zooming in on a weathered wooden door, iron window grates, or the soft afternoon light filtering through a lace curtain.

Day 6–7: Rocca Calascio

No trip to Abruzzo is complete without visiting Rocca Calascio, a mountaintop fortress famous among photographers for its moody ruins and panoramic views. As sunset approached, the light changed rapidly, going from brilliant gold to dusky purples.

This was a challenging environment: strong backlighting, deep shadows, and the need for quick focal adjustments. The Sigma handled it well, although I did notice some softness at 300mm when shooting wide open. Stopping down to f/8 or f/11 brought back clarity and sharpness.

Encounters with Wildlife – Flexibility on the Fly

One of the unexpected highlights of my time in Abruzzo was the opportunity to photograph wildlife — a rewarding challenge that added another dimension to the trip. The region’s national parks, especially Gran Sasso are teeming with natural life, from wild horses and birds of prey to shy mountain dwellers like deer and chamois.

With the Sigma 16-300mm, I felt ready for anything. The ability to reach out to 300mm without needing to switch lenses meant I could react instantly to movement in the landscape — whether it was a bird sweeping overhead, a group of animals grazing in the distance, or subtle signs of life on a quiet mountainside trail.

The telephoto reach proved invaluable when subjects appeared unexpectedly or were too far for a standard zoom. I often found myself walking with the lens set to somewhere between 200mm and 300mm, scanning the environment and quickly composing shots from afar.

Autofocus was consistently fast and reliable, even when tracking quick movements or shooting in dappled light. While the maximum aperture of f/6.3 at the long end can be limiting in some wildlife scenarios, bumping the ISO on my Fujifilm X-T4 compensated effectively, and the resulting images retained excellent quality with minimal noise.

Overall, the lens gave me the freedom to respond to wildlife opportunities without hesitation — a crucial factor when dealing with fleeting moments in unpredictable conditions. Whether I was walking through open grasslands or forested trails, I always felt equipped and ready to capture what nature offered.

Technical Observations: The Real-World Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Incredible versatility — the 16-300mm range truly covers almost every scenario.

• Compact travel setup — no need to carry multiple lenses or risk dust during lens swaps.

• Optical Stabilization — very effective, especially at 200–300mm handheld.

• Fast and fairly accurate autofocus, even in tricky lighting.

• Minimal chromatic aberration, better than expected for a superzoom.

Cons:

• Sharpness drops at extreme ends, especially wide open at 16mm and 300mm.

• Distortion and vignetting at 16mm, though easily corrected in post.

• Aperture limitations — f/6.3 at the long end can be restrictive in low light.

None of these were deal-breakers, especially considering how freeing it felt to shoot an entire trip without once needing to change lenses.

Closing Thoughts: A Creative Liberation

This trip turned out to be about more than just capturing stunning photographs — it was a meaningful test in the art of creative simplification. By intentionally limiting myself to just one versatile lens, I discovered that I was able to work more intuitively, allowing me to respond to the unfolding scenes around me more quickly and with greater ease. This approach resulted in a deeper immersion in the entire photographic experience. I found that I wasn’t weighed down by an excess of gear or distracted by moments of uncertainty and indecision, which allowed for a more fulfilling exploration of my surroundings.

The Sigma 16-300mm isn’t a “perfect” lens — but that’s not the primary point of consideration. Instead, it serves as a practical and empowering tool for photographers, particularly those who wish to travel light while ensuring that all of their creative options remain readily available. This versatility makes it an appealing choice for capturing a wide range of subjects and scenes on the go.

If you’re planning on heading to a truly beautiful place like Abruzzo — where the stunning and varied landscape can dramatically shift from towering mountain peaks to charming medieval alleyways in just a single scenic drive — this exceptionally versatile lens might just be the perfect companion for capturing all the diverse and captivating scenery that awaits you on your journey.

Have you tried a one-lens trip? Or do you have your own experiences with the Sigma 16-300mm? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. And if you're planning a trip to Abruzzo, feel free to reach out for tips — it’s a place I’ll be returning to again and again.