Golden & Blue Hour Planner

What it does

Calculates all four golden and blue hour windows — morning blue hour, morning golden hour, evening golden hour, evening blue hour — for any date you choose, not just today. This is the planning counterpart to the live Golden & Blue Hour Countdown tool: pick a future date instead of watching a live countdown to the next window.

What you'll need

• Your location — either tap “Use my location” or enter latitude/longitude manually.
• The date you're planning for.

Steps

1. Set your location.
2. Pick a date — defaults to today.
3. Read all four windows' start and end times for that date.

Reading the result

Each row shows one window's start and end time for the chosen date. If no windows are shown, that's an actual astronomical effect at extreme latitudes during summer or winter, not a bug — see the FAQ below.

Tips

• Use this to lock in a shoot date and time weeks in advance, then switch to the live Golden & Blue Hour Countdown on the day itself for a real-time countdown.
• Check the linked weather forecast closer to the date — the sun's geometry is fixed and predictable, but cloud cover on the day is not.

What's the difference between this and the live countdown?

Both tools calculate the same four windows — golden hour and blue hour, morning and evening — using the sun's exact geometric position. The live Golden & Blue Hour Countdown always shows the next window from right now. This planner lets you pick any date, including weeks or months in the future, so you can lock in a shoot date before you're anywhere near the location.

Why photographers use it

Serious location shoots — weddings, travel photography, architectural work — often get booked or scheduled well in advance. Knowing exactly when golden and blue hour will fall on a specific future date lets you build a shoot schedule around the light, rather than discovering the timing only once you arrive.

Common mistakes

• Assuming golden hour falls at the same clock time every visit to a location. it shifts throughout the year — sometimes by well over an hour between summer and winter at the same latitude. Always recalculate for the actual date you're shooting.
• Booking a shoot around golden hour without checking sunset first. golden hour's evening window ends at sunset, so an event or booking that runs past sunset has already lost the light — check the Sunrise & Sunset Calculator alongside this for the full picture.
• Ignoring how dramatically window length varies by latitude. a planner used for a tropical location and a Nordic one on the same calendar date can show very different window lengths — treat every result as specific to that exact location, not a general rule.

Example settings

FAQ

Can I use this instead of the live Countdown tool?

For advance planning, yes. On the actual shoot day, the live Golden & Blue Hour Countdown is more convenient since it counts down in real time rather than needing a date re-entered.

Does this account for weather?

No — it's pure sun-position geometry. Check the linked weather forecast closer to the actual date for cloud cover, which affects colour and visibility but not the timing.

Why did it say no window was found for my date?

This happens at very high latitudes during summer or winter, where the sun's path relative to the horizon means one or both windows genuinely don't occur that day.