Web app

Golden Hour

When the light is best for photos, which way the sun comes up and goes down, and where to stand. For any place and any day.

Open full screen Allow location access when asked, or search for a place instead.

About it

What it does: Works out the golden hour and blue hour for the morning and evening, shows the whole day as a strip of light, and counts down to the next good light. The map draws a line toward sunrise and sunset so you can see what will be lit and what will be in silhouette, and lists places nearby worth shooting from.
Golden and blue hour: Golden hour is when the sun is low, from 6° above the horizon to 4° below it: warm, soft light with long shadows. Blue hour comes right before sunrise and after sunset, with the sun 4° to 6° below the horizon, when the sky turns deep blue. These are the limits most photography planners use. Hills, buildings and haze change what you actually see, so get there early.
Will there be color?: For the next two weeks it reads the cloud forecast at sunrise and sunset. It's a rule of thumb: some high or mid-level cloud with gaps tends to catch the light, while a thick low layer hides the sun. Clear skies give clean light but a plain sky.
Your location: Your browser asks before sharing your location. It's only used for the search and is never stored on this site.
Built with: Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, plus one small Python service on the server that holds the Google key. The sun's position is worked out in your browser with the same formulas as SunCalc. Popular places nearby come from the Google Places API, viewpoints and the map from OpenStreetMap, clouds and time zones from Open-Meteo, and place search from Photon.