Golden hour calculator

When is golden hour? In the evening it starts when the sun drops to 6° above the horizon and lasts until sunset. In London that's 20:28 on midsummer's day and 14:52 in midwinter. Sundial also shows where that low light will land on the buildings at your location.

Free, no sign-up. Times in the location's own time zone.

How golden hour is defined

There's no single official definition, so it helps to know which one a tool uses. The figures here use the one in SunCalc, the astronomy library behind Sundial. Evening golden hour begins when the sun's height falls to 6° and runs to sunset. Morning golden hour runs from sunrise until the sun climbs past 6°.

Below about 6° the sunlight passes through so much atmosphere that it turns warm and soft, and shadows grow long. At 6° every metre of height casts a shadow roughly 9.5 m long. Some photographers count a few degrees below the horizon as well. If you do, add a little to the times below.

When evening golden hour starts

The "hour" isn't an hour. In London the evening golden hour lasts 44 minutes at the equinoxes, 54 minutes at midsummer and 62 minutes in midwinter, when the sun sets at a shallow angle. Edinburgh gets 79 minutes on 21 December. Closer to the equator it's shorter: New York has 36 minutes at the equinoxes. Morning golden hour mirrors the evening one. On 21 June in London it runs from sunrise at 04:44 to 05:38.

Where the light falls

Times tell you when. For a shoot you also need to know which way the light comes from and what it hits, and that changes a lot through the year.

When London's evening golden hour starts on 21 June, the sun is at a bearing of 301°, in the west-north-west. Facades facing that way glow, and long shadows reach out towards the east-south-east. At the equinoxes it starts with the sun at about 262°, a little south of west. On 21 December it starts at 219°, in the south-west, so a street running from north-east to south-west can have the sun shining straight down it in winter but not in summer.

That's where Sundial helps. Set the date, drag the time to the golden hour start from the table (or until Sun height reads 6.0°), and the 3D map shows which faces of the buildings are lit and where their shadows land. A street that looks perfect on paper may sit in the shadow of a tower block by then. You'll see it before you go.

In the southern hemisphere the seasons swap. In Sydney the June golden hour, in midwinter, starts with the sun in the west-north-west at about 303°. In December, midsummer there, it starts at about 246°, in the west-south-west.

Planning a golden hour shoot

1. Search the location on the sun path map, or use your current position.
2. Set the date of the shoot.
3. Drag the time towards sunset (the slider snaps to it) and step back until Sun height reads about 6°.
4. Check the Sun bearing and look at which facades are lit and which are in shade.
5. Press Share to send the exact view to the rest of the crew.

The link at the top opens Tower Bridge at the start of golden hour on midsummer's day. To compare, set the date to 21 December and the time to 14:52: the light now comes from the south-west.