SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Yes, there are some elements in the existing edit that are better in B&W, like the trees on the right. They’re kind of murky in color. That could be a very nice B&W image with a little work.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

In my experience, shooting during golden hour is like shooting under a color temperature of around 2700K-3400K if subjects are lit by sunlight. This would be like shooting through a yellow filter, compared to any form of daylight lighting. Blue hour, based on some carefully controlled work I did a couple of years ago, is like shooting under a color temperature between 10,000K and 20,000K, depending on how long it has been since sunset. This would be like shooting through a blue filter (or a very blue filter, in the case of 20,000K). This means that relative tonalities of different colors will be altered. In my experience, those alterations can be significant. Of course, to see the effects of these shifts, you will need to change your color temperature to 5800K in post processing before you remove the color from your exposures.

I have had better results during these times by exposing using a fixed "daylight" white balance, using black & white camera created JPEG images instead of decolorized raw images, and working very carefully to get the initial exposure correct. This almost always means using a tripod after the sun sets, and usually even before.

If you feel the need to use raw images instead, and if you want to see and take advantage of the extreme color temperature shift, it is critical that you return the color temperature to 5800 BEFORE desaturating your image, them leave it there.

Of course, there is another approach to this time of day, and that is to retain color and adjust white balance to 10000 or 20000K, restoring natural color to the images. This effect can produce breathtaking results because of the "whole sky" illumination of your scene. In some cases, it is even possible to capture extremely dramatic cloudscapes in the western sky with basically no work at all. For this, you will have to have the raw file, because there can be an incredibly wide range of intensities in your image. I haven't done much of this in B&W, but have treated some color images this way. I'd expect similarly dramatic results in black & white.

I haven't found a lot of guidance in this area that I felt was applicable or that fit anything that I wanted to do or that produced results similar to what I was seeking. So most of what I do is guided by approaches and procedures that I've made up on my own. My suggestion is to take what you already know as a starting point and experiment on your own. Take notes so that you can recreate those results that you like.

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

OK, I give up. These certainly work superbly!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you 🤗

Enjoy your journey!

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

You are correct that you shoot light, but the OP was asking about Golden hour in color or B&W. In B&W you don't see the color. So you have no way of seeing the golden hour in monotone

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

With boberic's OK I am posting another version of his Golden Hour photo. Removing color made it all about the dramatic light in my opinion. This is just one of several possibilities.

Thanks, Mr B!
.

I see it's posting rather dark - not unusual on UHH. But you get the idea 😊

(Download)

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

He was asking if it was still meaningful to shoot at golden hour or blue hour, and it is. True you don’t have color but the quality of the light is different. Back when I shot B&W film I still looked for that light. Photographers have looked for that quality of light since longer before I was shooting.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

It’s about the quality of the light, not the color.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Linda just asked me a couple of questions about my process, and as I was answering her, it occurred to me that I need to clarify a couple of things around my comments here.

First is that I always shoot B&W "intentionally." When I shot and printed B&W, I always used variable contrast paper. That process relied on the use of colored filters to control print contrast, which meant that it was usually difficult or impossible to print from a color negative. So I just didnt.

Also, as my eyes have gotten older, it has become difficult for me to visualize a monochrome image in our world of color. So on those few occasions when I shoot bkack&white, I really shoot black and white, using in-camera filters, adjusting contrast, and reviewing images to see what I can no longer see.

Most of the time, those resulting JPEGs can be processed as I need them to be, and I rarely convert a raw image, just as in my darkroom process.

For me, golden hour does not seem to be as magical as it was with film. For those who use Auto White Balance, I don't see how any magic survives at all. Blue hour, on the other hand is magical, with its light from no apparent source or direction. But with color, anything red or yellow is lost. These items will also become shadows in B&W, unless corrected for. And the effect may not be as desirable as with color.

Hope this helps more than my original comments here. Of course, it may just be a bunch of rambling from someone who has been indoors too long...

polyman

Yes it does hold true for B/W. Its not just about the color its also the lowness of the light source in the sky, it reveals very interesting textures.

Leitz Loc: Solms

If you bothered to actually look at how the the existing light affects the subject, you would know the answer.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Very nice as are those on Flicker.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I find the subject is more important than the blue and golden hours. One particular subject I want to photograph has been elusive. What I want are clouds. However, the best time of day to shoot this subject is around noon, local time. Too early, shadow. Too late, flat light.
--Bob

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

Beautiful work Linda......WOW

PlymouthWoodworker Loc: Plymouth, MA

Linda,
I agree. Shooting RAW and using NIK Silver Efex is great. There is a lot of power in NIK to select how you want different colors to render in the gray scale. This could definitely work to your advantage with blue hour and golden hour pictures.