Golden hour in Johannesburg in December

Johannesburg lies at 26.20° S, in the subtropics, with short, decisive twilights. Its longest measured day falls on Fri 18 December 2026 with 13h 47m of daylight, and its shortest on Thu 18 June 2026 with 10h 30m — a difference of 3h 17m between the two extremes.

Evening golden hour in Johannesburg runs for roughly 34 minutes at the height of summer, 30 minutes around the March equinox and 34 minutes at midwinter. The warm window is at its most generous in summer, so summer shoots allow more time to work a location.

The sun sets toward 296° WNW in late June and toward 243° WSW in late December, a shift of about 53° in where the last light lands — worth checking before committing to a west-facing viewpoint. In Johannesburg, the sky reaches full darkness between evening and morning twilight year-round.