How the Golden Hour progresses (Part One)

So it being not too awful outside today, I thought it might be a perfect opportunity to see what the magical "Golden Hour" does to light. Sunrise and sunset are the times for the warmest, most pleasing light in photography, and the setting sun is much easier for me to take advantage of. I'm not a morning person!

Now, when it's a little nicer out, I want to do this properly, as an almost two hour long exercise that goes straight into dusk. The wind was getting pretty strong, so I bailed earlier than I should have this time.

I set up right smack in front of the Capitol building. It faces perfectly West, so the light would really shine on the marble and stone of the facade and dome. After playing around a bit with settings, I began taking pictures. Sunset was right around 5 p.m. Skip to the end to see my conclusions from the exercise.

Equipment Used 

Nikon D3100 Camera
35mm f/1.8 lens
Velbon tripod

Images

All of these images were shot with a 35mm lens at 1/400 and f/1.8

4:48 p.m.


5:05 p.m.


5:06 p.m.


5:08 p.m.


5:10 p.m.


5:15 p.m.


5:20 p.m


5:25 p.m.


5:30 p.m.



Conclusions

Honestly, I'm not sure which image is my favorite. I believe that it is the warmth seen in the 5:20 p.m. shot, but the off-white and shadows of the 5:10 shot are nice in their own way. The use of an all white building looks like it overstates the effects of the setting sun. When I complete Part Two of this series (and do the full two hour exercise), I will be sure to pick a more normal landscape, rather than the very reflective National Mall.