Date & Time
Golden Hour & Blue Hour Photography Calculator
Calculate sunrise, sunset, golden hour, and blue hour times for any location and date. Perfect for photographers wanting to plan the perfect shot at the best natural light.
Times shown in UTC. Add your UTC offset for local time.
What is golden hour?
Golden hour is the period shortly after sunrise and before sunset when sunlight is redder and softer than during midday. The Sun is near the horizon, so light travels through more atmosphere, scattering the blue wavelengths and leaving warm reds, oranges, and yellows.
Lighting periods
| Period | Timing | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Blue hour | ~30 min before sunrise / after sunset | Cool blue tones, soft diffuse light |
| Golden hour | First/last ~1 hour of sunlight | Warm, directional, low-contrast shadows |
| Midday (harsh light) | 10 AM – 2 PM (approx.) | Hard shadows, washed-out colors |
Photography tips
- Shoot toward the light for rim lighting and silhouettes; shoot away from it for warm fill light on subjects.
- Golden hour lasts longer closer to the poles and is much shorter near the equator.
- Overcast days create natural "soft-box" lighting that is excellent for portraits any time.
Blue hour
The blue hour occurs in the 20–30 minutes just before sunrise and just after sunset, when the sun is just below the horizon and indirect light fills the sky with a deep, saturated blue. It is ideal for cityscape photography because artificial lights are on but the sky retains detail - creating a balanced exposure between street lighting and the sky that is impossible at night.
Shooting angles
During golden hour, the sun is nearly horizontal, producing long dramatic shadows and rim lighting (light wrapping around the edges of subjects). For portraits, position your subject with the sun at their back or at 90° to create a warm rim effect. The low angle also means terrain features - hills, sand dunes, grass blades - cast long shadows that add texture and depth to landscape shots.
Seasonal variations
Near the equator, the sun rises and sets nearly perpendicular to the horizon, so golden hour lasts only 20–30 minutes. In Scandinavia and other high-latitude locations near the summer solstice, the sun barely rises above the horizon and the golden hour can last several hours. In winter at high latitudes, the sun stays low all day, giving photographers golden-quality light for much of the day.