Photographers plan around two windows: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. Here are both for Arvada — computed live for its exact coordinates, accurate for any date you pick.
The month-by-month table below is in this city's own local time. The live times above follow your device's timezone. Mountains, ridgelines and buildings can shorten the usable window — scout your horizon.
Local tip: Reflections double golden hour: water, glass buildings and wet pavement all pick up the sky's color in the hour around sunset.
In Arvada, sunset ranges from 4:35 PM in December to 8:32 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 41 minutes at the summer solstice and 43 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Arvada (America/Denver).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:19 AM | 5:00 PM | 4:19 PM – 5:00 PM | 41 min | 9h 41m |
| February | 6:52 AM | 5:36 PM | 4:59 PM – 5:36 PM | 37 min | 10h 44m |
| March | 7:11 AM | 7:07 PM | 6:31 PM – 7:07 PM | 36 min | 11h 56m |
| April | 6:22 AM | 7:38 PM | 7:02 PM – 7:38 PM | 36 min | 13h 16m |
| May | 5:45 AM | 8:08 PM | 7:29 PM – 8:08 PM | 39 min | 14h 23m |
| June | 5:31 AM | 8:30 PM | 7:49 PM – 8:30 PM | 41 min | 14h 59m |
| July | 5:44 AM | 8:27 PM | 7:47 PM – 8:27 PM | 40 min | 14h 43m |
| August | 6:12 AM | 7:56 PM | 7:19 PM – 7:56 PM | 37 min | 13h 44m |
| September | 6:41 AM | 7:08 PM | 6:33 PM – 7:08 PM | 35 min | 12h 27m |
| October | 7:10 AM | 6:20 PM | 5:44 PM – 6:20 PM | 36 min | 11h 10m |
| November | 6:45 AM | 4:44 PM | 4:04 PM – 4:44 PM | 40 min | 9h 59m |
| December | 7:14 AM | 4:36 PM | 3:53 PM – 4:36 PM | 43 min | 9h 22m |
Golden hour is the stretch just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the low sun turns hard daylight into soft, warm, directional light — the most flattering natural light for portraits, real estate, product and landscape photography. Blue hour follows sunset (and precedes sunrise): a short window of deep, even blue that's ideal for twilight real estate shots and skylines. Both windows change with latitude and season, which is why this page computes them live instead of guessing.
Kanyon Studio is a San Diego photography and video studio — golden hour is our home field. Brand shoots, products, real estate and portraits, planned around exactly this light.
