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Golden Hour in Duluth, MN

Great light in Duluth isn't luck — it's timing. This page calculates today's sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour for Duluth's exact location, live, and works for any date you choose.

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: Golden hour moves every single day. If you're planning a shoot more than a week out, check the date itself — the window can shift by 20+ minutes.

In Duluth, sunset ranges from 4:20 PM in December to 9:06 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Duluth's coordinates (46.7833, -92.1066) and shown in America/Chicago.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Duluth by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:48 AM4:47 PM3:58 PM – 4:47 PM49 min8h 58m
February7:12 AM5:33 PM4:50 PM – 5:33 PM43 min10h 21m
March7:21 AM7:14 PM6:34 PM – 7:14 PM40 min11h 53m
April6:20 AM7:56 PM7:16 PM – 7:56 PM40 min13h 36m
May5:33 AM8:36 PM7:52 PM – 8:36 PM44 min15h 03m
June5:13 AM9:04 PM8:17 PM – 9:04 PM47 min15h 51m
July5:29 AM8:58 PM8:13 PM – 8:58 PM45 min15h 29m
August6:06 AM8:18 PM7:36 PM – 8:18 PM42 min14h 12m
September6:46 AM7:19 PM6:40 PM – 7:19 PM39 min12h 34m
October7:26 AM6:21 PM5:39 PM – 6:21 PM42 min10h 55m
November7:11 AM4:34 PM3:47 PM – 4:34 PM47 min9h 23m
December7:46 AM4:20 PM3:29 PM – 4:20 PM51 min8h 34m

How the light changes through the year in Duluth

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Duluth. It is longest in December at about 51 minutes and shortest in September at about 39 minutes — a difference of 12 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Duluth gets 7h 17m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:20 PM in December to 9:04 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 9:43 PM, and in December until about 4:55 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:20 PM on December 4
  • Latest sunset: 9:06 PM on June 20
  • Longest day: 15h 52m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 8h 32m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 47 minutes in June, 51 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/Chicago

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.