If there's one question I get more than any other before a summer shoot, it's this: what's the best time of day for outdoor family photos? It's a great question, and the answer matters more than most people realize. You can pick the perfect outfits, choose a beautiful park, and have kids in genuinely good moods, but if we're standing in a field at high noon in July, the light will fight us the entire time. Get the timing right, and everything else falls into place. As a photographer who specializes in family and newborn sessions here in Skokie, timing is the very first thing I plan around, and I want to walk you through exactly how I think about it.
Golden Hour Is the Best Time of Day for Outdoor Family Photos
When people talk about the best time of day for outdoor family photos, they're usually describing golden hour without knowing the name for it. Golden hour is the stretch of time in the hour or so after sunrise and the hour before sunset, when the sun sits low in the sky. That low angle does something magical: it softens the light, warms up every skin tone, stretches shadows into something gentle instead of harsh, and wraps your family in a glow that's almost impossible to fake.
Here in the Chicago area during early July, the sun sets around 8:25 to 8:30 in the evening, which means I'll usually have families meet me around 7:00 p.m. for an evening session. That gives us a full window of that buttery, flattering light before the sun dips below the horizon. By contrast, if we shoot at 1:00 in the afternoon, the sun is directly overhead. That's when you get raccoon-eye shadows under everyone's brows, squinting kids, and blown-out bright spots that no amount of editing fully rescues. I know these summer skies well, and golden hour is where the best outdoor family photos live.
When Early Morning Beats the Evening
Golden hour isn't only an evening thing, and this is where a lot of families are surprised. Sunrise light is just as soft and beautiful as sunset light, and for certain families it's actually the better call. If you have little ones under about six, the evening golden hour can collide head-on with what parents affectionately call the witching hour, that stretch before bedtime when even the sweetest toddler starts to unravel.
Young kids tend to be at their absolute best first thing in the morning, well-rested and cheerful and ready to play. A session that starts around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. can be a total game changer with a busy toddler or a fussy baby. Morning light along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Evanston is stunning, and there's an added bonus: parks and beaches are quiet and nearly empty at that hour, so we're not weaving around crowds or waiting for a stroller to clear the frame. When I'm helping a family with young children decide, I almost always float a morning session as a serious option.
A Quick Note on Newborns
Newborn sessions are the exception to all of this. Those are best done indoors in the first couple of weeks, where I can fully control the temperature and the light and keep your baby cozy and sleepy. If you're expecting, timing works differently, and I break down exactly when to schedule in my guide on the best time to book a newborn session, so check that out if a little one is on the way.
What About Overcast Days?
Parents often panic when they see clouds in the forecast, but an overcast sky is honestly one of my favorite conditions to shoot in. Think of a thick layer of clouds as nature's giant softbox: it spreads the light evenly across everyone's face, erases harsh shadows, and lets us shoot comfortably even in the middle of the day. So if we've booked a mid-morning session in Wilmette and the sky turns gray, don't cancel on me. Some of the most tender, evenly lit family portraits I take happen under exactly those clouds. Bright, hazy overcast is a gift.
The time I genuinely steer families away from is that harsh midday window between roughly noon and 2:00 p.m. on a clear, cloudless day. The overhead sun is unforgiving, and while I can work with almost anything, I'd rather set us up to win from the start than spend the whole session chasing patches of shade.
How Chicago's Seasons Shift the Best Time of Day
One thing worth understanding is that the best time of day for outdoor family photos shifts with the calendar. Right now in the heart of summer, evening golden hour lands late, close to 7:00 or 7:30 p.m., which can be past a baby's bedtime. Come autumn, when the North Shore trees turn and everyone wants those warm fall tones, the sun sets much earlier, so a golden hour session might start at 5:00 p.m. or even 4:30. In the depths of a Chicago winter, sunset golden hour can arrive as early as 3:30 in the afternoon, which actually makes it very family-friendly for nap schedules.
This is exactly why I build every session around the sunset and sunrise times for that specific date rather than picking a generic hour. When you reach out about booking, one of the first things I'll do is look up the light for your preferred day and suggest a start time down to the minute. Beautiful locations across the North Shore all photograph differently depending on when we arrive, and dialing in the timing is half the craft.
So, When Should Your Family Book?
If I had to sum it up simply: for most families with older kids, an evening golden hour session about an hour before sunset is the sweet spot for the best outdoor family photos. If you've got a toddler or a baby, lean toward early morning when their moods are sunniest and the parks are calm. On overcast days, we have flexibility to shoot almost anytime. And on a bright, clear day, we'll happily skip the harsh midday hours in favor of that soft, low, glowing light.
The truth is that no two families run on the same clock, and the best time of day for your outdoor photos depends on your kids, your routine, and the season we're shooting in. That's the part I love helping with. Tell me a little about your family and the day you have in mind, and I'll map out the perfect window so all you have to do is show up and be together.