GOLDEN HOUR · BLUE HOUR · SUNSET
Chase the light
Planning beach photos, a sunset cruise or a proposal on the sandbar? Pick the spot and the day. You get golden hour, blue hour, sunrise and sunset, which way the sun sets on the map, and a whole month of sunset times. Worked out on your phone, free.
Or tap the map to drop the pin anywhere.
Sunrise direction
Sunset direction
Sun right now
Evening
Golden hour
Morning
Golden hour
The month
Sunset moves about a minute a day. Your day is highlighted; weekends are pink.
| Day | Sunrise | Golden hour starts | Sunset | Dark (blue hour ends) | Sets |
|---|
Shooting tips that hold up. On the Gulf coast the sun sets over the water; on the Atlantic side it rises over it. In summer it sets well north of west, in winter well south, so check the pink line before you pick a spot. A few high clouds usually beat a clear sky for color; a low cloud bank on the horizon can steal the last ten minutes. Stay for blue hour: the sky keeps going after the sun is down.
Tonight, right now
The Headed In app has Golden hour built in: a countdown, a sunset-odds guess from tonight's clouds, and a postcard of where you watched it. Heading out by boat for it? It lets your people know when you're back. Free.
How it works
- Sun position from the NOAA solar calculator equations (gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc), worked out minute by minute on this page. Sunrise and sunset use the standard 0.833 degrees below the horizon for refraction and the sun's size, so they line up with NOAA's tables to within a minute or two.
- Golden hour here means the sun between 6 degrees up and 4 degrees down; blue hour, 4 to 6 degrees down. Those are the definitions most photo planners use; some say golden hour ends at sunset.
- Times are shown in the spot's own time zone (Florida's Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River is on Central time); outside Florida they show in your device's time zone. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nothing you pick here leaves your phone. Your last spot is remembered on this device only.