What is the "golden hour"?...

The "Golden Hour" can be either the first or the last hour of daylight.

What makes it so special?

This is the time when the sunlight is the softer, more diffuse, and warmer than any other time of the day, heck, this light is so good it (almost) has the ability to make me look handsome.

As Vincent Versace says, "people think that early morning is for breakfast and that late afternoon is for dinner, early morning and late afternoon are for taking pictures...  the time to be shooting is when the sun rises and when the sun sets because that's the prettiest light... people think they are photographing the subject, they're photographing the light, the subject just happens to get in the way of it, it's how the light hits our subject that makes an image interesting".

And though it can be used to take great pictures of anything (such as landscapes) I use it primarily for shooting seniors.

Here are a couple samples of some recent "golden hour seniors".

Click on either image to view larger.

If you would like to find out when the golden hour will be appearing in your neck of the woods you can use the online Golden Hour Calculator. Not only is there a web version, but they also have a free (and a paid) app for your iPhone and your iPad.

Another App option (for both the iPhone and iPad) is the Magic Hour, it's free and has a count down clock displaying when the next magic hour will be or when you are in it, how much time is left.