Elizabeth's golden hour is short, specific, and worth planning around. The times below are computed live for Elizabeth's exact coordinates (40.664, -74.2107) and update automatically for any date you pick — sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour, all in local time. 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: For skylines and wide shots, the 15 minutes after sunset usually beats the sunset itself: the sky holds color while buildings and streetlights come up.
In Elizabeth, sunset ranges from 4:29 PM in December to 8:32 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 41 minutes at the summer solstice and 44 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Elizabeth (America/New_York).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:18 AM | 4:54 PM | 4:12 PM – 4:54 PM | 42 min | 9h 36m |
| 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 | 6:18 AM | 7:36 PM | 6:59 PM – 7:36 PM | 37 min | 13h 18m |
| May | 5:39 AM | 8:07 PM | 7:27 PM – 8:07 PM | 40 min | 14h 27m |
| June | 5:25 AM | 8:29 PM | 7:48 PM – 8:29 PM | 41 min | 15h 04m |
| July | 5:38 AM | 8:26 PM | 7:46 PM – 8:26 PM | 40 min | 14h 48m |
| August | 6:07 AM | 7:54 PM | 7:17 PM – 7:54 PM | 37 min | 13h 47m |
| September | 6:37 AM | 7:05 PM | 6:29 PM – 7:05 PM | 36 min | 12h 28m |
| October | 7:08 AM | 6:16 PM | 5:39 PM – 6:16 PM | 37 min | 11h 08m |
| November | 6:43 AM | 4:38 PM | 3:58 PM – 4:38 PM | 40 min | 9h 55m |
| December | 7:13 AM | 4:30 PM | 3:46 PM – 4:30 PM | 44 min | 9h 17m |
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.
