Built for photographers who plan around light

The site answers a focused question for each place: when will the useful low light occur? City pages put morning and evening golden hour first, alongside blue hour, sunrise, sunset, day length and the sun’s compass bearing. Selected photography cities also include established public viewpoints, with solar direction calculated at each exact spot.

It is designed for location planning rather than weather forecasting. Start with a city, compare the time and direction of the light, then use local conditions to make the final decision.

Solar events are calculated in the site using SunCalc from each city or viewpoint’s latitude and longitude. Results are formatted in the named local time zone, so daylight-saving changes are reflected in the displayed clock time. No external weather or astronomy service is required.

Golden hour is treated as the period between the horizon and 6° of solar elevation. The blue-hour window shown here is the twilight band from 6° to 12° below the horizon. The golden hour explainer describes those definitions and their photographic use in more detail.

The results are astronomical estimates for the listed coordinate. A mountain, building, elevated viewpoint or uneven horizon can change when the sun first becomes visible or disappears. Weather, cloud, haze and smoke determine whether direct golden light reaches the scene at all.

Times update from the current local date whenever a city page is generated, and the public pages use short shared caching so daily values remain current. Evergreen methodology and guide copy carry a separate content date shown in the footer.