🌏 Golden Hour & Blue Hour Calculator

Plan your photo shoot with precise golden hour and blue hour times for any location and date.

Location & Date

Latitude

°N/S

Longitude

°E/W

Date

Golden Hour & Blue Hour for Photographers

The golden hour (also called the "magic hour") occurs twice daily — just after sunrise and just before sunset. During this time, the sun is low on the horizon, producing soft, warm, directional light that flatters subjects, creates long shadows, and adds a golden-orange glow to landscapes.

The blue hour occurs during nautical twilight — roughly 20–30 minutes before sunrise and after sunset. The sun is below the horizon but still illuminates the sky with a deep blue that balances beautifully with artificial lights in city scenes.

🌋 Shooting in Golden Hour Use golden hour for portraits (flattering warm skin tones), landscape silhouettes, architecture, and any subject that benefits from warm, directional sidelight.

🌙 Shooting in Blue Hour Perfect for city skylines, light trails, lit buildings, and seascapes. The balanced sky/artificial light ratio means no blown highlights or blocked shadows.

⌛ How long does it last? Golden hour duration varies by season and latitude. Near the equator it can be as short as 20 minutes; at high latitudes in summer it can last over an hour. Polar regions have extended golden hours during summer months.

📷 Gear for Blue Hour Bring a tripod for 1–10 second exposures. Use a remote shutter, mirror lock-up, and low ISO (100–400) for maximum sharpness and minimum noise in the deep shadows.

How the Calculation Works

This tool uses the NOAA solar position algorithm implemented in pure JavaScript. It computes the Julian date, solar mean anomaly, equation of center, solar declination, and hour angle to derive sunrise and sunset times. All calculations happen locally in your browser — no API calls are made.

Times are displayed in your local time zone (as returned by the browser). Golden hour is defined as the period when the sun's altitude is between −6° and +6° (approximately). Blue hour is defined as nautical twilight: sun altitude between −6° and −12°.