Discover when the golden hour is at your current location, explore visually how the golden hour changes with the seasons and where you are in the world.
To get started, we have taken a guess at where you are on the planet and are displaying astronomical information about your present location below. We calculate sunrise and sunset times. the elevation and azimuth of the sun and of course, display the golden hour. You can choose a new location from the drop down menu to the right or by clicking on the map. You can explore the changing year by clicking on the calendar at the bottom of the page.
If you would like to support this golden hour calculator site, both to help cover the costs of running the service and to inspire future development, please consider making a small donation below. This site is my personal project and all assistance is gratefully received.
Thanks, and enjoy the site,
Roger Moffatt [ For some of my astrophotography, see my old site here ]
The Golden Hour (sometimes referred to as the Magic Hour) is often defined as the first and last hour of sunlight in the day when the special quality of light yields particularly beautiful photographs.
For this Golden Hour calculator website, I have used a more precise definition of the Golden Hour. I have chosen to define the Golden Hour as that period when the sun lies between 6 degrees below the horizon and 6 degrees above. This definition of the Golden Hour more accurately accounts for the speed of the transition from day to night around the world at different times of year.
To see the Golden Hour, first choose your location by navigating the world on the map below, or by selecting from some cities across the world in the Location drop down.
Each time you click on the map or select a location from the list, I will calculate the transit of the sun through the sky and display it in the panel below the map.
The Golden Hour is displayed around dawn and dusk unless you are too far north or south where the sun may be wholly above or below the horizon. Once you have selected a location, you can then explore how the Golden Hour shifts with the seasons by clicking on a new date in the calendar represented below the horizon line.
Note that you need to hover your mouse over the yellow bands to see the details of the start and end times for each golden period during the day
The photographs above are some of my photos that are representative of the lighting during the Golden Hour
There are some Flickr groups dedicated to the Golden or Magic Hour which you can visit at www.flickr.com/groups/magichour/ and www.flickr.com/groups/golden-hour/