Early Morning Photography Tips

First, let’s start with the obvious: booking a photo shoot on vacation is always a great idea, no matter the timing! 📸 Now that we’ve addressed that, let’s talk about our preferred photoshoot timing. ⌚️ In most cases, early morning photo shoots are recommended, particularly when it comes to busy or touristy destinations. If you’ve travelled before, you’ve likely noticed a theme: early mornings are quieter than any other time of day! 👍 Especially if you want a serene, private, truly magical, and secret-looking gallery of images, mornings just can’t be beat. ✨

We easily connect people with trusted photographers for fun photo shoots and have captured over three million memories worldwide. The magic of Flytographer is both the experience and the photos. Explore the city with a fun, talented photographer and get wall-worthy photos to relive your trip, forever. Today, we asked our local photographers to share some reasons why they recommend an early morning photo shoot, so let’s get to it! ➡️

TLDR

1. Easier to plan into a travel day — an early morning photo shoot is the perfect way to capture priceless together moments before you’re off to explore and enjoy a day of sightseeing!
2. Wake up with the city — experiencing the beauty of starting your day alongside locals is one of the best ways to get a feel for unique local culture.
3. Beat the crowds — the best time of day to see sights without heavy crowds lurking in the background and/or fighting for those primo spots is to beat them to it with — you guessed it — an early morning shoot!
4. A better golden hour — the golden hour just after sunrise tends to have softer colours (followed by daytime sun) compared to post-sunset, which leads to the blue hour (and then, of course, nighttime darkness).
5. Trust your photographer — our local photographers are experts! For the best photos, trust them and their know-how when it comes to timing, routes, and more.

Photo: Flytographer in Sedona. Brad and partner capture memories in Sedona with a couples photoshoot at Lipan Point.

Easier to Plan into a Travel Day

Booking an early morning photoshoot is one of our best photo tips here at Flytographer. Although most of us hope to catch up on some long-lost sleep 🥱 while on vacation, saving just one of your mornings for pics is absolutely worth the early wake-up call. ⏰

Having your shoot first thing in the morning means you get to check it off your list before a day of sightseeing/adventuring begins. Once you complete your early shoot, you’re not only up and at ‘em (and looking fabulous, may we add 💁‍♀️), but to boot, you’re ready for your day while everyone else is still just waking up! 🏃‍♀️ Productivity on vacation!? Impressive.

One of our favourite things to recommend right after your early morning photoshoot is going for a yummy breakfast, invigorating coffee, or another other local, edible morning specialty! ☕️ Knowing delicious food is waiting is excellent motivation, and you’re free to stuff yourself with allll the breakfast carbs in celebration. 🥐

Timing tip: when it comes to what part of your trip 📆 you should schedule your pictures for, that’s up to you… and will likely be influenced by jet lag! Think about when during your trip an early morning working in your favour. If jet lag isn’t an issue, would you rather get it out of the way early in the trip? Knowing you have awesome photos when you’re feeling and looking fresh might mean less selfie-stress during the remainder of your vacay — you can breathe a sigh of relief. Other times, customers want to celebrate the end of their trip once they’re more relaxed, have had some down time, and have gotten sightseeing out of the way. (It’s also a good idea if you want to scope out your meeting spot prior to your shoot.)

Photo: Barbara & Claudio in Amalfi Coast for Flytographer. Jaclyn and partner capture memories on the Amalfi Coast with a honeymoon photoshoot in Positano Village.

Wake Up with the City

Experiencing the beauty of waking up alongside the hustle and bustle of locals is magical. 🕰 Watching locals head to work or school as the sun rises and movement begins gives you a feel for what life is like in your destination, seeing what locals do and where they go. ❣️ There’s something especially charming about waking up with the city.

Photo: Kirill in Paris for Flytographer. Kori and partner capture memories in Paris with a couples photoshoot on Bir—Hakeim Bridge & the Eiffel Tower.

Beat the Crowds

You know the saying — the early bird gets… the city to themselves! (The city, the worm… same sort of thing. 😉) Beating the crowds means no photobombers and a lot less negotiating and navigating for those prime photo ops with mega cool backdrops. 🤭 Photography techniques aren’t the only reason to hire a photographer — your new pro-photog friend will be able to guide you to secret spots, hidden gems, and other history-proven locations most inexperienced visitors aren’t going to be familiar with.

Photo: Spyros in Santorini for Flytographer. Michelle and partner capture memories in Santorini with a couples photoshoot in Oia Village.

A Better Golden Hour

Between sunrise and sunset, sunrise creates a softer light than sunset (which can sometimes give off a reddish-orange hue and ultra-warm colors). 🌅 The light conditions during the shoot will only get brighter as the sun rises, verses sunset when the sky only gets darker (this leads to the “blue hour”). Morning light is *chef’s kiss!* 🤌

Beating the heat with an early morning photoshoot (especially in the summertime 🥵) also means cooler temps and, most importantly, no sweat stains! We all can appreciate feeling and looking cool!

Want to know one last secret? 🤫 Dynamic lighting is a tell-tale sign of a professional image. Beautiful, golden backlights are one of the most dramatic ways to stand out from the selfie crowd, and this lighting just can’t be captured the same with a cell phone; professional photographers and professional cameras give you professional images! Hiring a pro means leaning into their know-how (that big camera bag is on them for a reason!), not to mention this time gives you a break from being the one behind the lens. Our pros also take care of the post-processing work so you don’t have anything to do other than eagerly anticipate your final gallery!

For more golden hour info, tips, and tricks, be sure to check out this post! 📲

Photo: Madison in Jackson Hole for Flytographer. Jonny and family capture memories in Jackson Hole with a family photoshoot at Inner Park Road.

Trust Your Photographer

Trust your photographer! Our local photographers are our experts, and they know best the specifics, nuances, patterns, and more when it comes to all our routes, destinations, and start times. 🏆 Talk to your photographer if you have specific hopes when it comes to your dream photos and know that they’re your natural light gurus! 😎

Another photography tip is to trust what your photographer sees behind their lens. Different angles might be required to capture you with that beautiful light, as well as knowing how to work with/around harsh lighting, harsh shadows, or other quirks. Trust your photographer! 🫡

Photo: Bayu in Bali for Flytographer. Joanna and partner capture memories in Bali with a couples photoshoot in the Tegalalang Rice Fields of Ubud.

Capturing Morning Memories 

We hope we’ve shown you that an early morning photoshoot offers more pros than cons! 🥇 Capturing morning memories means priceless images you’ll always cherish, even if you have to cut into just a bit of your vacation sleep time. 🤭

Want more information on what to expect during your photoshoot? Check out this post (“A Behind-the-Scenes Peek of a Photoshoot with Flytographer”), and this one (“Top 10 Travel Photoshoot Tips With Outfit Ideas & Poses”) 👀 — both are awesome resources to reference as you prepare for your Flytographer shoot!

See you soon! 👋