Golden hour: what it means and how to find the time

On this site, golden hour means the interval when the centre of the sun is between 4° below and 6° above the horizon. This is a stated photography convention, not an official astronomical event or a promise of golden light.

There is one interval around sunrise and another around sunset when both angle crossings occur. Its length depends on latitude and date, so it does not necessarily last sixty minutes.

Choose a city, then read its morning and evening golden-hour intervals. The displayed times include that location’s clock changes. Cloud, haze, terrain and the direction of your subject can matter more than the clock time.

At high latitudes, an angle may never be crossed on a particular day. The page then says that no complete interval occurs, rather than inventing a start or finish.

Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight use recognised thresholds of 6°, 12° and 18° below the horizon. Golden hour uses the separate convention above. Do not use a photography window as a definition of legal daylight or permission for an outdoor activity.