YouCam Perfect
4.8
download app
Best Photo Editor & Selfie Camera
BlogPhoto Editing
Best App to Add Golden Hour Filter to Photos in 2025
Photo Editing

Best App to Add Golden Hour Filter to Photos in 2025

Jun 27, 2025 · 3 minutes read
Best App to Add Golden Hour Filter to Photos in 2025

Looking to add a magical, ethereal glow to your images? Golden Hour offers an amazing opportunity to take beautiful photos accentuated by the soft natural light. When you know how to take golden hour photography, you’ll be able to produce stunning imagery even without being a professional.

Use the following guide to capture the perfect golden hour portrait and add a golden hour aesthetic filter to your photo with YouCam Perfect.

Download the Best Golden Hour Aesthetic App, YouCam Perfect

What Is Golden Hour

Golden hour is the time shortly after sunrise and just before sunset, when the sun is low in the sky. During this time, natural light becomes soft, warm, and golden, giving your photos a beautiful glow. The light is flattering for portraits, makes skin tones look smooth, and adds long shadows for a dramatic effect.

To know exactly when golden hour happens in your location, check a golden hour time calculator or simply look outside before sunset. You’ll notice the golden hour light when the sky turns warm and everything is bathed in an orange or golden glow.

6 Tips on How To Edit Golden Hour Photos

Read on to discover the six tips for the best golden hour aesthetic photos and learn how to edit golden hour photos with YouCam Perfect.

1. Add Golden Hour Filter

how to add sunlight to a photo

Golden hour photography is tricky because you only have a few minutes a day to work with. Miss that limited time span and your images won’t have that same pop. Luckily, there is another solution. With YouCam Perfect, you don’t need to wake up early or chase sunsets to create stunning golden-hour images. You can create one-tap golden hour photos with instant aesthetic light illusion effects. It’s simple! Try the following steps to see what we mean:

  1. Open your image in YouCam Perfect.
  2. Click on the Effects option in the bottom menu.
  3. Scroll to Light Shadow, pick Light Shadow 02, and adjust the strength to your liking.
  4. Go back to Effects, select Sunkissed, and choose Sunkissed 04.
  5. Enjoy your new golden hour photo!


2. Adjust The Color to Fake Golden Hour

Adjust The Color of Pictures to Fake Golden Hour Color

If you are dedicated enough to get outside right after sunrise or before sunset, YouCam Perfect can also help you edit the golden hour photos you took. The app’s extensive selection of photo editing tools gives you the ability to adjust:

  • Contrast
  • Brightness
  • Shadows
  • Exposure
  • Much more

It’s like having a professional photography editing suite in the palm of your hand. Make tweaks and corrections on the go so you can post your new photos without any delay.

👉 Read: How to Enhance a Photo Like a Pro

3. Change to Golden Hour Sky With Sunset

Use Sky Replacement to Change Your Sky to Golden Hour Sky

Have you arrived on location to take golden hour photos, but the sky is grim or not as colorful as you were anticipating? It’s not a problem with YouCam Perfect!

Quickly replace the sky in your photo with one of the Sunset options in Sky Replacement for a dreamy golden hour vibe. Just open the setting and choose from a number of options that instantly replace the sky in the image. You can make it seem like you snapped a photo at the perfect moment. 

4. Add Sunlight Effects With Lens Flare

Give Portrait a Golden Hour Glow With Lens Flare

During golden hour, the sun is positioned low in the sky, creating a lens flare when snapping photos. But if you miss this cool phenomenon, YouCam Perfect can help you add a lens flare to your portrait or landscape snap after the fact. Choose from several different light shapes, sizes, and directions depending on the vibe you’re going for. When placed correctly, these effects look natural and stunning. 

5. Shoot in the Opposite Direction of the Sun

The fourth tip for golden hour photos? Shoot away from the sun. That way, everything will be illuminated with a soft, golden glow. Warm light makes it easy to keep the exposure of an image balanced, and it also invokes feelings of happiness.

If you shoot into the sun, the sun’s rays will overtake everything, and your subject will be a shadow flooded by light. It can work (as you’ll see below), but it just takes more practice.

6. Shoot Toward the Sun to Play With the Silhouettes

With that said, shooting into the sun can produce some cool effects if you know what you’re doing. For example, you could try:

  • Lens flares — when the sun creates a bursting glow in the photo that can make it seem like your subject is frolicking on a happy, summer day.
  • Sunbursts — similar to a lens flare, this is when you shoot into the sun but obscure most of it with a tree branch or other object. The result is a small number of aesthetic light spikes that dramatically highlight a photo.
  • Silhouettes — This happens when your subject is completely blacked out, and your background is overexposed, creating a dramatic and mysterious effect. If you try any of these golden hour photo tips, just remember to adjust your exposure accordingly.

👉 Read: How to Make a Silhouette from a Photo

Get the Best Golden Hour Filter App Today

With YouCam Perfect, every hour can be a golden hour! Download the app now on the App Store or Google Play to get started.

Download the Best Golden Hour App, YouCam Perfect

 Watch our tutorial to learn how to add golden hour effects to photos!

<br>

More Filter Ideas:

FAQs about Golden Hour Filter

How to get the golden hour effect on iPhone?

You can create the golden hour effect on your iPhone by either taking photos during actual golden hour (just after sunrise or before sunset) or by using a photo editing app.


If you miss the real golden hour, try using a free app like YouCam Perfect to add a warm, golden glow to your photos.


Look for filters or editing tools that adjust brightness, warmth, and shadows. Applying a golden hour filter can make your photo look like it was taken in natural sunlight, even if it wasn’t.

How to Add Sunlight to a Photo?

You can easily add sunlight to a photo using free photo editing apps like YouCam Perfect. Just upload your photo and look for tools like sunlight effects, light rays, or golden hour filters.


These features let you add warm tones, soft glows, or directional sunlight to make your photo look naturally lit.


For best results, place the light effect near a window, horizon, or light source in your photo to keep it realistic.


# Photo Editing# Effect# How-to
Popular
Photo Editing
Sky Filter App: How to Change the Sky in Your Photos
Photo Editing
10 Best Filters for Photos Free Apps for iPhone and Android
Photo Editing
5 Best Free Sky Editor Apps to Change Sky in Photo [iPhone]
By using the website, you agree to our use of cookies. Head to our cookie statement to learn more about cookies and manage cookies on this website.