With a great lake horizon, Cleveland gets long, unobstructed golden light off the water — and blue hour over a lake is one of photography's most reliable free special effects. The times below are computed live for Cleveland's exact coordinates and update automatically 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 golden hour spot: Edgewater Park's beach and skyline combo. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.
In Cleveland, sunset ranges from 4:56 PM in December to 9:04 PM in June. All times local to Cleveland (America/New_York).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:50 AM | 5:22 PM | 4:39 PM – 5:22 PM | 43 min | 9h 31m |
| February | 7:21 AM | 6:00 PM | 5:21 PM – 6:00 PM | 39 min | 10h 39m |
| March | 7:38 AM | 7:33 PM | 6:56 PM – 7:33 PM | 37 min | 11h 55m |
| April | 6:46 AM | 8:07 PM | 7:30 PM – 8:07 PM | 37 min | 13h 20m |
| May | 6:07 AM | 8:39 PM | 7:59 PM – 8:39 PM | 40 min | 14h 32m |
| June | 5:52 AM | 9:02 PM | 8:20 PM – 9:02 PM | 42 min | 15h 10m |
| July | 6:06 AM | 8:59 PM | 8:18 PM – 8:59 PM | 41 min | 14h 53m |
| August | 6:35 AM | 8:26 PM | 7:48 PM – 8:26 PM | 38 min | 13h 50m |
| September | 7:07 AM | 7:35 PM | 6:59 PM – 7:35 PM | 36 min | 12h 29m |
| October | 7:38 AM | 6:45 PM | 6:07 PM – 6:45 PM | 38 min | 11h 07m |
| November | 7:15 AM | 5:06 PM | 4:25 PM – 5:06 PM | 41 min | 9h 51m |
| December | 7:46 AM | 4:57 PM | 4:13 PM – 4:57 PM | 44 min | 9h 12m |
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.
