What low sun does to a family photograph
Light does something specific between September and November that no other season manages. The sun never climbs high, so for hours at a stretch it sits at the angle most photographers only get for twenty minutes either side of sunset. Long soft shadows, then, rather than the hard black pool under the eyes at one in the afternoon in July. Nobody squints.
Compare two sessions on the same green in Victoria Park. One in June, booked for 7pm because that is when the light finally softens after a day of full sun. Cutting it fine against bedtime, and I’ve had toddlers melt down before the camera comes out.
The other ran in late October at 4pm. Same light quality, completely different logistics: nobody is racing a bath, and the usable window runs two hours instead of twenty rushed minutes. Low autumn sun through thinning branches backlights hair in a way an August midday sky never will.
This is also why autumn weddings book out fast for outdoor portraits: the light that flatters a family group flatters a wedding party, and couples have worked that out.
September to December, month by month
Here is how the window moves across the back end of the year.
| Month | Sunset in London | Colour and ground conditions | How booked up photographers are |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | around 19:15 early, 18:20 by month end | Still mostly green, parks dry underfoot | Moderate — diaries fill from half-term |
| October | 18:15 early, 16:40 by month end | Peak colour arriving late in the month, ground softens after rain | Full, the busiest portrait month of the year |
| November | 16:35 early, 15:55 by month end | Leaf fall largely finished by mid-month, mud in the shaded spots | Full for the first half, then Christmas card deadlines take over the diary |
| December | 15:51 at the solstice | Bare branches, frost some mornings, decent low light around midday | Quiet for family sessions, this is corporate party season instead |
The clocks going back costs you an hour overnight
The clocks change on 25 October 2026, and that’s the date that catches people out. A 4pm slot that worked perfectly on the 24th is shooting into dusk on the 25th, because the usable outdoor window for an after-school session has collapsed by an hour. If a booking sits either side of that Sunday, I ask what time of day suits before confirming.
Where the colour actually is
Not every green space turns. Plane trees make up most of London’s street cover, and they go a dull yellow-brown and drop early after any wind, so the Embankment looks tired by late October one year and glorious the next. I check it in person before promising anyone a location.
For reliable colour I send people to specific trees rather than a vague park:
- Kew, for range and maples, though entry is paid and weekends are busy, so I keep it for couples rather than anyone chasing a toddler.
- The Kyoto Garden in Holland Park: free, small, with acers that turn a proper red rather than brown.
- The beech woods near Kenwood on Hampstead Heath, which hold their colour for weeks.
- Victoria Park’s avenue on the south side, for East London families who want colour without a train journey.
- Dulwich Park in South London, where planes catch low sun in the last hour before dusk.
Peak leaf in London runs from the last week of October into mid-November, shifting by up to a fortnight depending on how wet and windy September has been. I will not book a colour-dependent session three weeks out without saying the display is never guaranteed to the day.
The Christmas card deadline nobody plans for
Work backwards from the post. Cards want to be in the mail by the second week of December for second class to arrive in time. Most printers want ten working days from finished artwork to delivery, which puts the design deadline at the start of December. Behind that sits editing, five to seven working days for a family session, so the shoot has to happen by about the middle of November.
Half of London has worked this out too, which makes early October to mid-November the busiest five weeks of my year. Book after the first week of November and you’re choosing from whatever daylight slots are left, not the one you wanted.
December goes quiet for family portraits and turns into Christmas party photography instead: office dos and shop floors rather than parks and gardens.
My honest advice: if the card is the actual goal, book by the last week of September. If the photograph matters more than the card deadline, January is wide open and the light on a bright winter morning is arguably better than anything October offers.
Rain, mud and the wet-weather plan
Twenty-minute showers are worth waiting out
October rain in London rarely settles in for a whole afternoon. It arrives in twenty-minute blocks with real gaps between them, which is workable if you’re willing to shelter under a tree or in a doorway rather than cancel at the first drizzle. I have shot whole sessions in the gaps between three showers and nobody noticed the weather had been a problem.
Covered markets beat cancelling on the day
Greenwich Market and Leadenhall Market both give you painted ironwork and warm bulb light that photographs well in colour. The Barbican’s high walkways are concrete rather than autumnal, but dry, distinctive and five minutes from anywhere in the City. The Royal Exchange courtyard suits a dressier family.
When none of that appeals, moving the session indoors at home is often the better call anyway. Bounced flash and a fast 35mm make a Victorian front room look considerably bigger than it is, with no tripod fighting the sofa for floor space.
Mud is the other issue nobody mentions. Anywhere with tree cover holds water for days after rain, so I ask what shoes and buggy wheels are dealing with before suggesting a location, not after.
What autumn costs compared with a summer evening
There is no autumn premium on the fee. A family session is £250 to £600 in October exactly as it is in June: a mini session at £250, a standard 90-minute session at £350 to £450, or an extended two-location session at £500 to £600. The season does not change the number.
What changes is what is left to book. Autumn is also when branding photography bookings spike, because businesses want fresh headshots before the new year, and I’m running both diaries at once.
The slots that go first are weekend afternoons and weekday windows between 3pm and 4.30pm, which suit school pickup and low light at the same time. Weekday mornings and anything after the clocks change stay open far longer. Price is identical either way. Availability is not.
Autumn is overrated for one specific reason
I will argue against my own headline. Autumn is a difficult season for a family with a very young baby, or a child who cannot be dressed warmly without looking like a duvet in every frame.
Newborns regulate their temperature poorly, and twenty minutes in October wind is a worse experience for baby and parents alike than a bright, overcast morning in March. The light on a day like that is just as flattering: flat, even, and forgiving of a six-week-old who has no patience for being posed.
I would rather tell a client with a two-month-old to wait for spring, or shoot at home where I control the temperature, than talk them into a park session because the colours are nice. The colours are nice. They’re not worth a cold baby and parents who spend the session worrying instead of looking at the camera.
Most seasonal advice in this trade leaves that part out, because it undercuts the pitch. I would rather lose the booking than the photograph.
Send me your postcode, the ages of the children and two dates that would work, and I can check what is left in October. You’ll have an answer within one working day.