Photographers plan around two windows: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. Here are both for Berkeley — computed live for its exact coordinates, accurate for any date you pick. 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.
Local tip: Arrive 30 minutes before the golden hour window opens. Setup always takes longer than planned, and the first ten minutes of good light are often the best.
In Berkeley, sunset ranges from 4:49 PM in December to 8:35 PM in June. All times local to Berkeley (America/Los_Angeles).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:23 AM | 5:14 PM | 4:34 PM – 5:14 PM | 40 min | 9h 51m |
| February | 6:58 AM | 5:48 PM | 5:11 PM – 5:48 PM | 37 min | 10h 50m |
| March | 7:19 AM | 7:16 PM | 6:41 PM – 7:16 PM | 35 min | 11h 57m |
| April | 6:33 AM | 7:45 PM | 7:09 PM – 7:45 PM | 36 min | 13h 12m |
| May | 5:58 AM | 8:12 PM | 7:35 PM – 8:12 PM | 37 min | 14h 14m |
| June | 5:46 AM | 8:33 PM | 7:53 PM – 8:33 PM | 40 min | 14h 47m |
| July | 5:59 AM | 8:30 PM | 7:52 PM – 8:30 PM | 38 min | 14h 32m |
| August | 6:24 AM | 8:01 PM | 7:25 PM – 8:01 PM | 36 min | 13h 37m |
| September | 6:51 AM | 7:16 PM | 6:42 PM – 7:16 PM | 34 min | 12h 26m |
| October | 7:17 AM | 6:31 PM | 5:55 PM – 6:31 PM | 36 min | 11h 14m |
| November | 6:49 AM | 4:57 PM | 4:18 PM – 4:57 PM | 39 min | 10h 08m |
| December | 7:17 AM | 4:51 PM | 4:09 PM – 4:51 PM | 42 min | 9h 33m |
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.
