Capture Cinematic Sunrise and Sunset Screenshots

The golden-hour scenes are this shader's showpiece. You can stage them so you aren't racing the clock.

Set up the scene

1. Use a Creative world, or a world with cheats enabled. You need cheats to control time and weather.

2. Find an open plain with trees and flowers. Grassy fields with scattered trees show off the golden glow and the tree silhouettes best.

3. Clear the weather with /weather clear. Rain and overcast skies hide the sun colours.

4. Freeze time so the light stays put: /gamerule doDaylightCycle false.

5. Use /time set to move toward dawn or dusk. Nudge the time up and down in small steps until the sky turns the shade you want. Early dusk gives yellowish cloudy skies, and later dusk turns fiery red.

Frame the shot

• Face the sun to get backlit trees as dark silhouettes against a bright sky.
• Face away from the sun to see the golden light falling across the grass and leaves.
• Raise your render distance in Video settings so distant trees and hills appear in the background.
• Hide the HUD (Video → Hide HUD, or F1 on keyboard) before taking the picture.
• For night shots, set time to night and look up to frame the glowing moon and the green-tinted starry sky.

When you're done, turn the daylight cycle back on with /gamerule doDaylightCycle true.