Golden hour calculator
Photographers like the soft light just after sunrise and before sunset. Pick a date and a city, or type coordinates, to see when golden hour and blue hour start and end in the local time of the place.
Runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Enter a date and choose a place from the list. For another place, choose my own coordinates and fill in latitude, longitude and time zone.
- Read the morning and evening golden hour windows. Blue hour comes just before the morning golden hour and just after the evening one.
How it works
The tool finds solar noon and the Sun’s declination for the date. For each Sun height it needs, it works out how many minutes before and after solar noon the Sun is at that height. Golden hour is the Sun from 4 degrees below to 6 degrees above the horizon. Blue hour is the Sun from 8 to 4 degrees below. These limits are common photographers’ conventions, not a standard.
Worked examples
- New York, 3 November 2026: sunrise 06:28, morning golden hour 06:11 – 07:08, sunset 16:50, evening golden hour 16:10 – 17:07, evening blue hour 17:07 – 17:29.
Good to know
Local times follow the time zone rules of the place for that date, including daylight saving.
Frequently asked questions
What is golden hour?
It is the period after sunrise and before sunset when the Sun is low and the light is warm and soft. There is no single official definition. This tool uses a common rule of thumb, the Sun between 4 degrees below and 6 degrees above the horizon.
What is blue hour?
Blue hour is the twilight before sunrise and after sunset when the Sun is just below the horizon and the sky turns deep blue. This tool takes it as the Sun between 8 and 4 degrees below the horizon, again a rule of thumb.
Why is golden hour longer in some places?
The Sun crosses the horizon at a shallow angle far from the equator, so it spends longer in the low band. Near the equator the Sun drops steeply and golden hour is short. In high latitudes in summer it may not cross some bands at all.
How accurate are the times?
Sunrise and sunset come from the NOAA solar position equations, normally good to a minute or so. The golden and blue hour limits use the same solar position but depend on the definition chosen. Weather, hills and buildings change the light you actually see.