What is the Best Time of Day for Outdoor Family Photos?

Buffalo, NY and the surrounding areas have so many beautiful outdoor locations for family photo sessions. From the parks to Lake Erie to the architecture, we are lucky to have so many amazing spots to choose from.

So, when is the best time to take outdoor family photos? Read on for my thoughts and suggestions!

Golden Hour is the Best Time of Day for Family photos.

You may have heard of golden hour, but if you haven’t, golden hour is the time of day right before sunset (or sunrise) when the light is relatively low in the sky. It casts a beautiful, flattering, golden light and makes everyone look good! It is the best time of day to schedule your family photo session.

Tips for having your family photos done at golden hour:

If you are doing your family photos in the summer in Western New York, the sun sets late! Usually it is going on 9:00PM when it gets dark. For families with very young children, this can be tough. However, I will say that if you can manage it, the light is often worth the wait. If it is a sunny day/evening, the golden light that sunset delivers is very worth it in your final images. And our sunsets and sunset skies around Buffalo are often epic looking. Just look at these skies:

Now, at the risk of sounding like captain obvious, I will also say this:

It’s not always going to be sunny! And that is totally ok too. Some of my favorite sessions are ones that have cloudy and moody looking skies. They are also beautiful and that light is flattering and gorgeous as well. If you asked me which is my favorite light to shoot in, I would say it depends on my mood because sometimes I’m all about the sun and sometimes I’m feeling the clouds.

But this post is about golden hour light so I will continue on with tips on how to make it work with young children!

1) Try to get them to take a later nap:

I will start off by saying I know this might not work. My two older kids were horrible nappers and if I didn’t follow a strict nap schedule, everything was thrown off. But sometimes it does work. I’ve had some success with it with my youngest. And if you can manage to get your young children to nap later so that they can stay up a bit later, it definitely helps for a golden hour summer photo session.

2) Keep them fed:

Little or big, hungry humans are unhappy humans. If you can do dinner a little bit later and bring dry (so clothes don’t get messy) snacks to the session to make sure the kiddos are not hungry it will be helpful to keep them happy during the photo session.

3) Make the rest of the day low-key:

Keep your day mostly empty before the photo session if at all possible. I know summer can be SO busy, but if you can keep the day of your session quiet, it can be helpful in making sure the kids are not totally worn out by the time sunset rolls around.

4) Dress them comfortably

I know it is important to have the entire family well dressed for your photos, but please keep comfort in mind for everyone, especially the little ones. Make sure if they are wearing shoes, that they are comfortable ones that they can run around in. And dress for the weather - too hot or too cold can make for unhappy kids.

What if my kids just aren’t able to stay up that late?

This is completely fine. It isn’t going to work for every family. My main goal is to give you beautiful photos that you will love and look back on in years to come. Sunrise is also an option if your family are early risers. If not, I am happy to work with you to schedule a time that works better for your family. The light may be a bit different, but we can still get beautiful images!

What if it is cloudy?

This is also ok! Mother Nature is going to do her thing and we will do ours. Cloudy skies can be just as beautiful. Just look at the images below - they were all done when it was cloudy!

I hope this information on time of day for your family photos was helpful and I hope these tips help as well! I know that sleep and kids can be tricky to manage. But if you can make it work, it is totally worth it! If you would like to book a session, please CONTACT ME.

Not sure where to get your family photos done? Click HERE for my favorite summertime locations for family photos in Buffalo NY.

I am a photographer based in the Southtowns of the Buffalo NY area. I specialize in family, maternity, and newborn photography. If you are interested in a session with me, please CONTACT ME today!

View family photography session information HERE.