Where the numbers come from
Each moment is defined by the sun's elevation above the horizon, not by a fixed clock offset from sunrise. That is why the durations change with latitude and season:
| Moment | Sun elevation | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Golden hour | −4° to +6° | Warm, low, long shadows, usable direct sun |
| Sunrise / sunset | −0.833° | Upper edge of the disc on the horizon, refracted |
| Blue hour | −6° to −4° | No direct sun, even blue sky, city lights balance |
| Civil twilight | 0° to −6° | You can still read outdoors |
| Nautical twilight | −6° to −12° | Horizon still visible at sea |
| Astronomical twilight | −12° to −18° | Sky dark enough for faint stars |
The sun's position comes from the NOAA solar position equations — Julian date, the sun's mean longitude and anomaly, the equation of centre, apparent longitude, obliquity of the ecliptic, declination and the equation of time. Sunrise uses the standard −0.833° threshold, which accounts for atmospheric refraction and the radius of the solar disc. Expect agreement with published tables to within a minute; local terrain will move real-world sunrise far more than that.
Shooting the good light
Arrive early, stay late
The two most common mistakes are showing up at sunrise and leaving at sunset. The blue hour before dawn and after dusk is often the better frame, and it is the half nobody else is standing there for.
The light falls off a cliff
In the last fifteen minutes of golden hour the exposure can drop several stops. If you are chasing it with fixed settings you will lose frames. Lock the leg that matters — shutter for a moving subject, aperture for depth — and let the camera float the other as the light goes.
White balance is a decision
Auto white balance sees golden light as an error and tries to cancel it. That is exactly backwards. Set a fixed Kelvin value around 5500 K and let the warmth land in the file, or shoot raw and decide later.
At the equator the sun crosses the golden band almost straight down and you get roughly 20 minutes. At 55° north in June the same band can last two hours. Chart it before you plan the shoot — the number in the readout above is the real one for your date and place.
Common questions
What is the golden hour, exactly?
The window when the sun is between 6° above and 4° below the horizon. Light at that angle passes through much more atmosphere, which scatters out the blue and leaves warm, directional light with long shadows.
Why does my golden hour last 25 minutes, not an hour?
Because you are near the equator, or it is near the equinox. Golden hour is defined by sun angle, and the closer you are to the equator the more steeply the sun crosses the band. The name is an average, not a measurement.
Is blue hour before or after golden hour?
Before it in the morning and after it in the evening — blue hour is always the darker side. Morning order is blue hour, sunrise, golden hour. Evening order is golden hour, sunset, blue hour.
Do these times account for daylight saving?
Yes. Times are formatted in the time zone shown in the selector, which handles daylight saving automatically. Pick a city and the zone follows.
Why does the calculator show no sunrise?
You are inside the polar circle on a date with midnight sun or polar night, so the sun never crosses the horizon. The elevation curve still tells you everything useful — at those latitudes the low-angle light can last for hours.
How accurate is this?
Within about a minute of published tables for normal latitudes. Accuracy degrades near the poles, where the sun approaches the horizon at a very shallow angle and small refraction differences move the crossing by several minutes. Your local horizon — hills, buildings, trees — matters far more than the arithmetic.
Related tools
Made for light that won't wait.
Hold shutter speed and let Lucid float ISO as golden hour collapses — with a live histogram, zebra clipping warnings and manual white balance so the warmth stays in the file.