The best time of day for photos in Lisbon is the first two hours after sunrise and the last two before sunset. That is true of most places; what makes it worth an article here is that Lisbon's light, hills and orientation change the answer street by street – an east-facing façade in Alfama is perfect at eight in the morning and flat by noon, while the western viewpoints do nothing until the afternoon. Below: what each part of the day gives you, where in the city it works, and how the answer shifts across the year.
Roughly when that is
Lisbon's sun rises around a quarter past six in June and closer to eight in December; it sets around nine in the evening in midsummer and a little after five in midwinter. So "golden hour" is 06:30–08:30 and 19:00–21:00 in July, and 08:00–10:00 and 15:30–17:30 in January. Check the day's times before you book, because a session planned for "sunset" in February is a session that ends in the dark at half past five.
Morning: soft light and an empty city
The sun comes up over the river to the east, and for the first hour it lights the eastern faces of the old town – the tiled walls of Alfama, the terraces of Graça, the riverside from Santa Apolónia to Terreiro do Paço. The light is low and warm, the shadows are long and soft, and the streets are almost empty: no tuk-tuks, no queues, nobody walking through the frame. For portraits in the old quarters, and for anyone who wants the city to themselves, morning is the best light Lisbon has.
The cost is the alarm. In summer a morning session starts before seven. It is worth it – but it is a real cost, and I say so before anyone books it.
Midday: avoid it, or use the shade
From late morning to mid-afternoon the sun is high, and high sun is the worst light for faces: shadows fall into the eye sockets, foreheads and noses go bright, and everybody squints. In a Lisbon summer it is also simply hot. If midday is the only time available, the answer is shade – and Lisbon has a great deal of it. The narrow streets of Bairro Alto, Alfama and Mouraria are in shadow for most of the day, and the light that bounces down into them off the walls is soft and even. Covered arcades, a café interior with a big window, a courtyard: all of these turn midday from a problem into an ordinary session. What does not work is a viewpoint at one in the afternoon.
Late afternoon and golden hour: the viewpoints
This is the light most people are picturing when they ask the question. In the last two hours before sunset the sun is low in the west, the light goes warm, and the whole city faces it: the miradouros – Senhora do Monte, Graça, Santa Catarina, the Castelo terraces – look across the rooftops into the light, the river turns gold, and the pale walls of the Baixa glow. It is the most flattering light of the day for skin, and it is the easiest to work in, because it comes from the side rather than from above.
Two practical things. It is fleeting – the best of it is perhaps forty minutes – so a golden-hour session is planned tightly, with the location chosen and the walking done beforehand. And in summer the viewpoints are crowded at exactly this hour; for a quieter frame I use the streets just below them, which get the same light without the audience.
Blue hour and after dark
After the sun goes down there is a short period when the sky is deep blue and the city's lights come on, and the balance between the two is brief and beautiful – twenty minutes, perhaps thirty. It suits moodier portraits and anything with the city as a backdrop: the lit tram, the cafés of the Chiado, wet cobbles after a shower reflecting the lamps. After that it is night, and night portraits are a different craft – street light, shop light, a higher ISO – with a different, grainier look that some people love. It is not the default, but it is available.
How the answer changes with the season
Summer (June to September): hard, high sun and heat through the middle of the day, and long, reliable golden hours at both ends. Morning or evening, never midday, and the evening light lasts until after nine.
Autumn and spring: the easiest months. The sun is lower all day, the golden hours are at civilised times, the crowds thin, and October in particular has a clarity to the light that summer haze takes away.
Winter (December to February): short days, but the light is soft for most of them, and an overcast winter afternoon in Lisbon is one of the best portrait lights there is – no shadows, no squinting, colour that stays true. Sessions start later and end earlier; a two o'clock start in January catches the whole of the good light.
What I actually do
Ask what the pictures are for, then pick the light to match. A profile set or a headshot wants soft, even light – morning in the old streets, or shade, or a winter afternoon. A couples session that should look like Lisbon wants the golden hour at a viewpoint, planned to the minute. A men's or women's portrait session usually gets two locations and a route that walks from shade into the last of the sun. And when the weather does what Lisbon weather does – a grey day in what was meant to be a golden one – the plan changes, because overcast light is not a failure; it is just a different, quieter picture.