Photography
What Time Is Golden Hour Today? A Simple Guide
By SunCast team · Published · Last updated · 4 min read · Markdown
What time is golden hour today? In most places it falls in the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset, though the exact times depend on your location, the date, and your latitude. Golden hour is the stretch when the sun is low on the horizon and its light turns warm, soft, and directional. It is useful for photographers, filmmakers, and anyone planning around the light.
Key takeaways
- Golden hour happens twice a day: just after sunrise and just before sunset.
- It is tied to the sun’s elevation. The calculator uses sunrise to +6° in the morning and +6° to sunset in the evening, rather than a fixed clock time.
- Golden hour is longer at higher latitudes and shortest around the equinoxes. In Edinburgh the evening window runs 49 minutes on the March equinox and 80 minutes on the December solstice; in Singapore it stays close to half an hour all year.
- The golden hour calculator gives exact times for your spot. Enter a place and date to see the morning and evening windows.
Find your golden hour
Choose your location and date to see the morning and evening light windows.
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Open the golden hour calculator →What golden hour actually is
Golden hour is defined by the sun’s position. It is the period when the sun is low enough that its light passes through a thick slice of atmosphere, scattering away the cooler blue wavelengths and leaving the warm, golden tones the hour is named for. Shadows grow long and soft, contrast drops, and the light comes from the side rather than overhead. That suits portraits, landscapes, and architecture.
Golden-hour definitions vary. The SunCast calculator shows the direct-light window from sunrise to +6° solar elevation in the morning and from +6° to sunset in the evening. Twilight continues outside those windows; the sun times calculator shows blue hour separately. Because it is defined by an angle, golden hour is not literally sixty minutes long. The “hour” is an approximation that only holds at mid-latitudes.
Why the timing changes
Three things move your golden hour:
Your latitude. Near the equator, the sun rises and sets almost vertically, so it passes through the golden-hour angles quickly. Closer to the poles, the sun meets the horizon at a shallow angle and stays low for much longer.
The season. The sun’s path shifts across the year, and the clock times move with it. Duration behaves less intuitively. Golden hour is shortest around the equinoxes, when the sun crosses the horizon most steeply, and longer at both solstices. At high latitudes the winter window can be the longest of the year, because the midday sun barely climbs above 6° at all.
Here is the evening window (+6° to sunset) for four cities in 2026, calculated with SunCast’s golden hour calculator. Times are local.
| City | 20 March | 21 June | 21 December |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 17:37–18:26 (49 min) | 21:00–22:04 (64 min) | 14:21–15:41 (80 min) |
| New York | 18:33–19:09 (36 min) | 19:51–20:32 (41 min) | 15:49–16:33 (44 min) |
| Sydney | 18:36–19:09 (33 min) | 16:17–16:55 (38 min) | 19:30–20:06 (36 min) |
| Singapore | 18:50–19:17 (27 min) | 18:44–19:14 (30 min) | 18:35–19:05 (30 min) |
Two things stand out for planning. An Edinburgh winter shoot gets its golden hour straight after lunch, at 14:21, with the sun no higher than 10.6° even at midday. And in Singapore the evening window barely moves through the year, so a routine that works in March still works in December.
Your local horizon and weather. The standard calculation assumes a flat horizon at sea level. If you are shooting in a valley, behind a ridge, or among tall buildings, the sun effectively “sets” earlier for you, cutting the evening golden hour short. Clouds, haze, and air quality change the colour and intensity of the light even when the timing is unchanged.
How to find today’s golden hour
Calculate golden hour for your exact coordinates and date. NOAA’s solar calculator gives sunrise, sunset, and solar noon for any latitude and longitude. The SunCast golden hour calculator shows the morning and evening windows and their durations for the place and date you enter.
If you have nothing to hand, assume the evening window ends at sunset and starts somewhere between 25 and 80 minutes earlier, depending on how far you are from the equator. The table above shows how wide that range is.
Planning a shoot around it
A few habits help:
- Arrive early. Scout your composition during the brighter end of the window so you are ready when the light peaks.
- Know which way the light will come from. Side light defines texture and shape; backlight creates rim light and silhouettes. Checking the sun’s direction and elevation ahead of time tells you where to stand.
- Have a plan for the fade. After sunset comes blue hour, a cooler window that starts when the sun is 4° below the horizon. Decide whether you are chasing the warm light or staying for the blue.
For a deeper walkthrough of building a shoot around the light, including scouting, timing, and gear, see how photographers use SunCast for photography.
The short version
Golden hour is the low-sun light just after sunrise and just before sunset. Its timing shifts with your latitude, the date, and your local horizon, so calculate it for your spot, arrive early, and know where the light is coming from. For more on the physics and history of the term, Wikipedia’s golden hour entry is a solid primer.
