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Golden Hour in Bellingham, WA

Whether you're shooting portraits, real estate or just chasing a good sky, this is when the light works in Bellingham. Every time below is computed live for Bellingham's coordinates and updates for any date. With a west-facing coastline nearby, evenings are the show — the sun drops toward the Pacific and the last hour of light runs warm and long.

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.

Where to shoot it

Local tip: Shoot with the sun behind your subject during golden hour and expose for the face — the rim light does the rest.

In Bellingham, sunset ranges from 4:13 PM in December to 9:17 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Bellingham's coordinates (48.7595, -122.4882) and shown in America/Los_Angeles.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Bellingham by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:57 AM4:41 PM3:50 PM – 4:41 PM51 min8h 44m
February7:17 AM5:31 PM4:46 PM – 5:31 PM45 min10h 14m
March7:22 AM7:15 PM6:33 PM – 7:15 PM42 min11h 53m
April6:18 AM8:01 PM7:19 PM – 8:01 PM42 min13h 43m
May5:28 AM8:45 PM7:58 PM – 8:45 PM47 min15h 17m
June5:06 AM9:14 PM8:25 PM – 9:14 PM49 min16h 09m
July5:23 AM9:08 PM8:20 PM – 9:08 PM48 min15h 45m
August6:03 AM8:24 PM7:41 PM – 8:24 PM43 min14h 21m
September6:46 AM7:22 PM6:40 PM – 7:22 PM42 min12h 35m
October7:30 AM6:19 PM5:36 PM – 6:19 PM43 min10h 49m
November7:19 AM4:29 PM3:40 PM – 4:29 PM49 min9h 11m
December7:56 AM4:13 PM3:18 PM – 4:13 PM55 min8h 17m

How the light changes through the year in Bellingham

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Bellingham. It is longest in December at about 55 minutes and shortest in March at about 42 minutes — a difference of 13 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Bellingham gets 7h 52m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:13 PM in December to 9:14 PM in June, so an evening shoot that works in summer will be shooting in the dark at the same clock time in winter.

Blue hour follows sunset and is worth planning for separately: in June it runs until about 9:57 PM, and in December until about 4:51 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:13 PM on December 7
  • Latest sunset: 9:17 PM on June 22
  • Longest day: 16h 10m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 8h 16m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 49 minutes in June, 55 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/Los_Angeles

What is golden hour?

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.

Chasing the light for a shoot?

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.