What time is golden hour in New York on September 2, 2026?

The morning golden hour is about 5:56 AM to 6:56 AM EDT, with sunrise at 6:24 AM. The evening golden hour is about 6:26 PM to 7:55 PM EDT, with sunset at 7:26 PM. The softest light is in the last 30 minutes before sunset and the first 30 minutes after sunrise.

What is the difference between golden hour and blue hour?

Golden hour is when the sun is between -6 and +6 degrees of the horizon and the light is warm. Blue hour is when the sun is between about -6 and -12 degrees, so there is no direct warm light and the sky turns deep blue. Blue hour follows evening golden hour and precedes morning golden hour.

Why is golden hour longer at higher latitudes?

Because the sun crosses the horizon at a shallower angle at higher latitudes, so it spends more time in the low-angle zone where the light is warm. At the equator the sun drops almost vertically and golden hour is short, about 30 to 40 minutes. Near the poles it can last for hours near the solstices.

Does golden hour happen twice a day?

Yes. There is a morning golden hour around sunrise and an evening golden hour around sunset, every day, everywhere on Earth. The exact length and timing change with latitude and season.

What elevation angle defines golden hour?

The common convention is that golden hour spans the sun's elevation from -6 degrees to +6 degrees. Some photographers use a tighter range of -4 to +4 degrees for the strongest color, and some extend it to -10 to +10 degrees. The -6 to +6 rule lines up with civil twilight on the low side.

When Is Golden Hour and How Do I Calculate It for My Location?

Q: What is golden hour?

Golden hour is the period when the sun is low on the horizon, between roughly 6 degrees below and 6 degrees above it. The light is warm because it passes through more atmosphere, which scatters blue wavelengths and lets reds and oranges through. There is one golden hour around sunrise and one around sunset every day.

Q: How is golden hour calculated?

It is calculated from your latitude, longitude, date, and time zone using a solar position model that solves for the moments the sun's elevation crosses -6 and +6 degrees. The NOAA solar position algorithm is the standard reference. The math includes the equation of time and the observer's latitude, so it is impractical to do by hand.

Golden hour is the period when the sun sits low on the horizon, between roughly 6 degrees below and 6 degrees above it. The light is warm because it passes through more atmosphere, which scatters the blue wavelengths and lets the reds and oranges through. For New York on September 2, 2026, the evening golden hour runs from about 6:26 PM to 7:55 PM EDT, with sunset at 7:26 PM in the middle of it.

A wedding photographer in Brooklyn shooting an outdoor ceremony on September 2, 2026 needs the softest light, which falls in the last hour before sunset and the first hour after sunrise. Sunset that day is 7:26 PM, so she plans the portrait session for 6:26 to 7:26 PM. Arrive earlier and the light is harsh. Arrive later and the sun is below the horizon and the warm color fades into blue hour.

What golden hour actually is

The name refers to the color temperature, not a fixed 60-minute window. When the sun is within about 6 degrees of the horizon, its light travels through enough atmosphere to shift from the white midday color toward the warm end of the spectrum. The exact angle photographers use varies, some say 4 degrees, some say 10, but the 6-degree rule is the common convention because it lines up with the start of civil twilight on the low side.

There are two golden hours every day, one around sunrise and one around sunset. The morning golden hour starts when the sun reaches about 6 degrees below the horizon, which is civil dawn, and ends when it climbs to about 6 degrees above. The evening golden hour reverses that, starting when the sun drops to 6 degrees above and ending when it reaches 6 degrees below, which is civil dusk.

A worked example for New York, September 2, 2026

On September 2, 2026 in New York (America/New_York), sunrise is 6:24 AM and sunset is 7:26 PM. Civil dawn, when the sun reaches 6 degrees below the horizon, is about 5:56 AM. Civil dusk, when the sun drops to 6 degrees below, is about 7:55 PM. The sun reaches 6 degrees above the horizon roughly 30 minutes after sunrise and 30 minutes before sunset.

Morning golden hour: about 5:56 AM to 6:56 AM EDT (civil dawn to sun at +6 degrees)
Sunrise: 6:24 AM EDT
Evening golden hour: about 6:26 PM to 7:55 PM EDT (sun at +6 degrees to civil dusk)
Sunset: 7:26 PM EDT
Blue hour follows: about 7:55 PM to 8:27 PM EDT, while the sun is between -6 and -12 degrees

The softest, most directional light is in the last 30 minutes before sunset and the first 30 minutes after sunrise. That is the window to schedule people into if you only have one slot.

Why latitude and date change everything

The length of golden hour depends on how steeply the sun crosses the horizon, which depends on latitude and season. At the equator, the sun drops almost vertically, so golden hour is short, about 30 to 40 minutes. At higher latitudes the sun crosses at a shallow angle, so it spends longer in the low-angle zone and golden hour stretches. In Reykjavik in midsummer the sun barely dips below the horizon, so golden hour can last for hours, while in December it barely rises at all.

The date matters because the sun's path shifts across the year. Near the equinoxes, around March 20 and September 22, the sun rises and sets due east and west and crosses the horizon at a moderate angle. Near the solstices, the path is more shallow in one hemisphere and steeper in the other, which lengthens or shortens golden hour depending on where you are.

How to calculate it for your city

The calculation needs your latitude, longitude, date, and time zone, then a solar position model that solves for the moments the sun's elevation crosses -6 and +6 degrees. The NOAA solar position algorithm is the standard reference. Doing this by hand is impractical because the equation of time and the observer's latitude both enter the math. The Golden Hour Calculator takes your city and date and returns the start and end of both golden hours, plus blue hour, using the NOAA model.

A real-estate photographer in Edinburgh scheduling exterior shots for a listing in late September enters Edinburgh and the shoot date. The calculator returns a morning golden hour around 6:50 AM to 7:50 AM and an evening one around 6:10 PM to 7:40 PM BST, both longer than New York's because Edinburgh is 12 degrees farther north and the sun crosses the horizon at a shallower angle.

Golden hour versus blue hour

Blue hour is the period immediately after evening golden hour and before morning golden hour, when the sun is between about 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon. The sky is not dark, but the sun is too low to cast direct warm light, so the color shifts to deep blue. Photographers often shoot golden hour for warm portraits and blue hour for cityscapes, because the deep sky balances with artificial building lights.

Related tools for sun planning

The Golden Hour Calculator returns the golden and blue hour windows for any city and date. The Sunrise and Sunset Calculator gives the day's first and last light. The Sun Position Calculator shows the sun's elevation and azimuth at any instant. The Day Length Calculator totals the time the sun is above the horizon, useful for comparing seasons across latitudes.