Whether you're shooting portraits, real estate or just chasing a good sky, this is when the light works in Clifton. Every time below is computed live for Clifton's coordinates and updates for any date. On this side of the country, sunrise is the underrated window — the sun comes up over the Atlantic side and morning golden hour is quieter than the evening one.
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 Clifton, sunset ranges from 4:28 PM in December to 8:32 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Clifton's coordinates (40.8584, -74.1638) and shown in America/New_York.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:18 AM | 4:53 PM | 4:11 PM – 4:53 PM | 42 min | 9h 35m |
| February | 6:50 AM | 5:31 PM | 4:53 PM – 5:31 PM | 38 min | 10h 41m |
| March | 7:08 AM | 7:03 PM | 6:27 PM – 7:03 PM | 36 min | 11h 55m |
| April | 6:17 AM | 7:36 PM | 6:59 PM – 7:36 PM | 37 min | 13h 19m |
| May | 5:39 AM | 8:07 PM | 7:28 PM – 8:07 PM | 39 min | 14h 28m |
| June | 5:24 AM | 8:30 PM | 7:48 PM – 8:30 PM | 42 min | 15h 06m |
| July | 5:37 AM | 8:26 PM | 7:46 PM – 8:26 PM | 40 min | 14h 49m |
| August | 6:06 AM | 7:54 PM | 7:17 PM – 7:54 PM | 37 min | 13h 48m |
| September | 6:37 AM | 7:05 PM | 6:29 PM – 7:05 PM | 36 min | 12h 28m |
| October | 7:08 AM | 6:16 PM | 5:38 PM – 6:16 PM | 38 min | 11h 08m |
| November | 6:43 AM | 4:38 PM | 3:57 PM – 4:38 PM | 41 min | 9h 54m |
| December | 7:14 AM | 4:29 PM | 3:45 PM – 4:29 PM | 44 min | 9h 16m |
Golden hour is not the same length all year in Clifton. It is longest in December at about 44 minutes and shortest in March at about 36 minutes — a difference of 8 minutes of usable warm light per evening.
Clifton gets 5h 50m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:29 PM in December to 8:30 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 9:03 PM, and in December until about 5:00 PM.
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.
