THOMAS CHU PHOTO

Photography Tutorial · 2020-08-23

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It

Thomas Chu Photo

For many photographers, the blue hour is an even more enchanting time to shoot than sunrise or sunset — perfect for cityscapes, architecture, portraits and lifestyle subjects.

In today's video tutorial, Thomas gives a complete breakdown of blue-hour photography.

Video Tutorial

▶ Watch the video tutorial on Bilibili

This is the illustrated companion to the video above. The blue hour — the 20-30 minutes after sunset before full darkness — is the favorite window of city, architecture and portrait photographers. Thomas moves from definition to camera settings, time blending and the technique's proper scope; the five chapters below follow the video, with every example photo and settings slide included.

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 1

01 What Is the Blue Hour

Right after sunset, golden afterglow or clouds may still warm the sky while the ground has already turned cool — warm above, cold below. Twenty to thirty minutes after sunset, sky and ground unify into a pure deep blue, and the only warmth comes from city lights: a perfect warm-cool pairing (at 1:41 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 2 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 3

Wait until full darkness and the sky loses every trace of light, ground shadows lose all detail, and the photo turns black with harsh contrast — that is night, not blue hour. For cities and architecture, the sweet spot is precisely the blue hour between sunset and night (at 2:17 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 4

02 Timing Apps and Camera Settings

Exact blue-hour times come from apps — both PlanIt and Lijing Weather have free versions, down to sunset and the blue-hour window. Duration depends on latitude and altitude: at Eboliang in Qinghai the blue hour can run from 20:50 to 21:34, more than forty minutes (at 2:28 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 5

Settings: light is still ample in the blue hour — A mode with autofocus, f/8 at ISO 100 on a tripod for image quality; f/11 at ISO 50 to lengthen exposure for traffic trails; drones at ISO 100-200, f/2.8, 1-2 s exposures — steady enough when windless, and bursts guarantee a sharp frame; for candid people open up to f/2.8 at ISO 1600-3200. Phones work great too in night or pro mode (at 3:44 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 6

03 Time Blending: Three Moments in One Frame

To combine a clean ground, moving people and stars, use time blending: keep the tripod fixed, shoot a clean blue-hour base at ISO 100 f/8, grab the person at ISO 3200, then wait for darker skies and shoot the stars with astro settings — blend the three (at 5:31 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 7

Winter cities light up late, and stars are too few during the blue hour — both call for separate shots blended later. An unmoved tripod is what makes the merge easy; the result holds a dreamy blue-hour ground together with stars and a human figure (at 6:49 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 8

04 Four Strengths of Blue-Hour Photos

First, a unified cool palette: sky and shadows are all blue while lights and colorful houses become complementary accents. Second, in weak light long exposures clean up sky, water and crowds — water misted, clouds streaked into silk. Third, modest contrast means single-frame results rich in detail, phone-friendly, whereas at night even cameras need bracketing and lights halo the air into ugly glare (at 7:18 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 9

Fourth, emotional range: desaturated deep blues with mysterious scenes feel unique; restrained, refined blues suit contemplative landscape work; raising the saturation of blue and warm tones turns dreamy; to feel fervent, simply enlarge the warm share of the frame — a tiny bonfire in a vast blue sky is tranquil, a bonfire filling the frame is blazing (at 8:56 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 10

05 Where It Works: Warm Artificial Light

The warm-cool contrast means blue-hour photos need warm artificial light — which is why successful ones are almost always made in cities, villages, buildings, beside tents, campfires; outdoor lifestyle shooters even light their own scenes: a glowing tent, a bonfire, a firework, a moon lamp. Even the cormorant fishermen of the Li River light an oil lamp for the blue hour (at 9:57 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 11

Natural landscapes without warm light can still use the blue hour, within a narrower range — quiet, cold, somber moods. Blue and cold share a natural visual bond; a blue-hour glacier works beautifully without any warm accent at all (at 11:20 in the video).

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 12
1. The blue hour is the 20-30 minutes around sunset before darkness; check it with PlanIt or Lijing Weather; 2. Settings are relaxed: f/8 ISO 100 on a tripod, f/11 for traffic trails, f/2.8 at 1-2 s for drones, f/2.8 from ISO 1600 for candids; 3. When ground, people and stars can't coexist, lock the tripod and time-blend; 4. The soul of the blue hour is warm-cool contrast — if there are no lights, light one yourself.

Tutorial Slides

The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 13 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 14 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 15 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 16 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 17 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 18 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 19 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 20 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 21 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 22 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 23 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 24 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 25 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 26 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 27 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 28 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 29 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 30 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 31 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 32 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 33 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 34 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 35 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 36 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 37 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 38 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 39 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 40 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 41 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 42 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 43 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 44 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 45 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 46 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 47 The Blue Hour Loved by City, Architecture & Portrait Photographers: How to Shoot It · Fig. 48

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