Golden Hour Calculator Widget
Give photographers and filmmakers the golden hour and blue hour for any location and date. The widget lists both light windows for morning and evening, plus sunrise and sunset, in the time zone you choose.
Live preview
Under the widget on your page: Powered by A2Z Tools
Embed code
<iframe src="https://a2z.tools/embed/w/golden-hour-calculator" title="Golden Hour Calculator by A2Z Tools" width="100%" height="740" style="border:0;width:100%" loading="lazy" allow="clipboard-write"></iframe>
A plain iframe. Works everywhere, including site builders that strip scripts. Adjust height if your content needs more room.
<div data-a2z-widget="golden-hour-calculator" data-height="740"></div> <script async src="https://a2z.tools/embed.js"></script>
Adds a small script (what it does) that sizes the widget to fit its content, loads it lazily and keeps it isolated from your page's CSS.
Works with
How it works
Golden hour is defined here by the sun's elevation, not by the clock: it is the time when the sun's centre is between 4 degrees below and 6 degrees above the horizon, when light is low, warm and soft. Blue hour is the deeper twilight between 6 and 4 degrees below the horizon. The widget uses the A2Z astronomy engine that also powers the sunrise and sunset widget - the NOAA solar calculator equations after Meeus - to find the solar declination and equation of time, then solves for the hour angle at which the sun crosses +6, -4 and -6 degrees, refining each time with the sun's position at that moment. Near the equator a golden hour lasts about 40 minutes; in London in October it is over an hour; at high latitudes in winter the sun may never climb above 6 degrees, so the soft light lasts all day, and in midsummer the sun may never sink to -4 degrees, so there is no blue hour at all. Each case is labelled instead of showing an invented time.
Calculation method
- Golden hour: solar elevation from -4 to +6 degrees (zenith 94 to 84 degrees)
- Blue hour: solar elevation from -6 to -4 degrees (zenith 96 to 94 degrees)
- cos(H) = cos(zenith) / (cos(lat) cos(decl)) - tan(lat) tan(decl); event = solar noon -/+ 4H minutes
- Sunrise and sunset: zenith 90.833 degrees (refraction and solar radius)
Worked examples
London in autumn
Inputs: 51.5074 N, 0.1278 W; 1 October 2026; Europe/London
Result: Morning golden hour 6:40 - 7:45; evening 17:53 - 18:58; blue hours 6:27 - 6:40 and 18:58 - 19:11
Sunrise 7:01 and sunset 18:38 match the US Naval Observatory to the minute.
Tromso at midwinter
Inputs: 69.6492 N, 18.9553 E; 21 December 2026; Europe/Oslo
Result: No sunrise; golden light from 10:29 to 12:54; blue hour from 9:31
The sun stays below the horizon but climbs above -4 degrees around noon.
Limitations
- Golden and blue hour boundaries are a photographic convention, not a standard; other apps may use 0 to 6 degrees.
- Elevations are geometric (no refraction) and for a sea-level horizon; mountains, buildings and cloud change what you see.
- The time zone is not inferred from the coordinates - choose it, or preset v_zone.
Where publishers use it
- Wedding and portrait photographers planning shoot times on their booking pages
- Travel photography blogs listing golden hour for each destination
- Real-estate photographers scheduling twilight exterior shots
- Film-school and video-production sites teaching natural-light planning
- Drone pilots' communities timing flights for low-angle light
Questions
What is golden hour exactly?
There is no official definition. A common photographic convention, used here, is the sun between 6 degrees above and 4 degrees below the horizon. Some apps use 0 to 6 degrees above; with that definition the window ends at sunset rather than about 20 minutes after it.
How long does golden hour last?
It depends on latitude and season. On 1 October 2026 in London the evening golden hour runs from 17:53 to 18:58, about 65 minutes. In Mumbai on 20 March 2026 it is about 42 minutes, because the sun sets steeply in the tropics.
What is blue hour?
The twilight when the sun is 4 to 6 degrees below the horizon: the sky turns deep blue while city lights are on. In London on 1 October 2026 the evening blue hour runs from 18:58 to 19:11, ending with civil twilight.
Why does it say the soft light lasts all day?
North of about 60 degrees in midwinter the sun never climbs above 6 degrees, so the whole short day has golden-hour light. The widget warns when this happens.
Can I preset my city?
Yes, with v_lat, v_lon, v_zone (an IANA zone such as Europe/Paris) and v_date. Without v_date the widget opens on today.
Sources
- NOAA Solar Calculator: calculation details - NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory . Solar declination, equation of time and hour-angle equations (after Meeus) used for every crossing. Checked 2026-10-01.
- Sun and Moon Data for One Day - US Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Dept. . Reference sunrise, sunset and civil-twilight times the tests compare the blue-hour edges against. Checked 2026-10-01.
Cite or recommend this tool
If you reference this tool in an article, course or documentation, these formats are ready to copy. They are optional - nothing is added to your site unless you paste it.
A2Z Tools Golden Hour Calculator https://a2z.tools/embed/golden-hour-calculator
<a href="https://a2z.tools/embed/golden-hour-calculator">A2Z Tools Golden Hour Calculator</a>
[A2Z Tools Golden Hour Calculator](https://a2z.tools/embed/golden-hour-calculator)
Golden Hour Calculator by A2Z Tools - https://a2z.tools/embed/golden-hour-calculator
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