Find exact magic-light windows for any location and date — golden hour, blue hour, sunrise, sunset, and solar noon with a live day-arc diagram.
Inputs
Enter a city name, use the crosshair, or paste coordinates directly.
Times shown in your local timezone.
Day arc
Results
Enter a location and date to calculate golden hour, blue hour, and sun times.
48.8566, 2.3522). Hit the crosshair button to use your device's GPS.Golden hour is the period shortly after sunrise and shortly before sunset when the sun is within a few degrees of the horizon. At that angle, light passes through more atmosphere — blue wavelengths scatter, leaving warm reds and oranges. The result is soft, directional light with long shadows and low contrast that flatters landscapes, portraits, and architecture. Duration varies by latitude: near the equator the window is 20–30 minutes; at high latitudes in summer it can stretch to 90 minutes or more as the sun tracks parallel to the horizon.
Blue hour occurs just before morning golden hour and just after evening golden hour, when the sun is 4°–8° below the horizon. The sky holds a deep ambient blue, and artificial lights — street lamps, lit windows — balance naturally with it. This makes it ideal for cityscapes and architecture, where those light sources would be washed out in daylight and overpowering in full darkness.
Azimuth is the sun's compass bearing measured clockwise from north — 0° is north, 90° east, 180° south, 270° west. The calculator shows it at sunrise, solar noon, and sunset (e.g. 68° ENE). Use it to plan composition: if you know the sunrise azimuth, you can work out in advance whether your subject will be front-lit, side-lit, or backlit from your intended shooting position — before you're on location with no time to reframe.
Arrive 20–30 minutes early. The light at the very start of golden hour is often the most intense and changes quickly — having your composition locked in before it peaks means you're shooting, not scrambling.
Set white balance to Cloudy or Shade (6000–6500K). Auto WB reads the warm cast as an error and corrects it toward neutral — exactly the opposite of what you want. Shoot RAW if you want to fine-tune in post.
Bring a tripod. Shutter speeds lengthen fast as light fades into blue hour. For slow-shutter water or motion effects, use the ND Filter Calculator to find the right filter before the light drops.
Set focus before blue hour. Meter off the sky and lock focus at hyperfocal distance before it gets dark — use the Depth of Field Calculator. Refocusing in low light mid-shoot costs more time than it saves.
Golden hour is the short window after sunrise and before sunset when sunlight is warm, low, and soft. The sun's low angle scatters blue wavelengths, leaving warm reds and oranges with long shadows and low contrast. It typically lasts 20–60 minutes depending on latitude and season.
Blue hour occurs when the sun is 4°–8° below the horizon — adjacent to golden hour on both sides. The sky is a deep, even blue, and artificial lights balance naturally with the ambient level. It's ideal for cityscapes and architecture; in full daylight those lights wash out, in full darkness they dominate.
At high latitudes the sun's arc is shallow, so it takes longer to pass through the low-angle golden zone. Near the equator that zone is crossed in 20–30 minutes. In Scandinavia near the summer solstice, the same window can last 90 minutes or more.
Set white balance to Cloudy or Shade (6000–6500K) — Auto WB will neutralise the warm tones. Shoot RAW for editing flexibility. Use a tripod as light fades, and consider an ND filter for slow-shutter effects on water or motion.
Partial cloud cover can actually enhance golden hour — clouds catch and reflect the warm light. Thick overcast neutralises it. This calculator shows astronomical times only; check a weather forecast alongside for realistic shoot planning.
Yes — use the date picker to browse any past or future date. Sun positions follow predictable astronomical cycles, so times calculated months out are just as accurate as today's.
ND Filter Calculator
Calculate the new shutter speed for any ND filter. Or reverse it — enter a target exposure and find the filter you need.
↳ 1/500s + ND64 → 1/8s
Depth of Field Calculator
Near/far focus limits, total DoF, and hyperfocal distance. Includes a live focus zone diagram.
↳ 50mm · f/2.8 · 3m → DoF 0.43m
Shutter Count Checker
Upload a photo to read the shutter actuation count from its EXIF data. Supports Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and Pentax. File never leaves your device.
↳ Drop a JPEG · read actuations instantly