Grand Rapids's golden hour is short, specific, and worth planning around. The times below are computed live for Grand Rapids's exact coordinates (42.9634, -85.6681) and update automatically for any date you pick — sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour, all in local time.
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: Overcast day? A thin cloud layer at golden hour acts like a giant softbox — some of the best portrait light happens on days everyone else stays home.
In Grand Rapids, sunset ranges from 5:07 PM in December to 9:25 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Grand Rapids's coordinates (42.9634, -85.6681) and shown in America/Detroit.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8:10 AM | 5:33 PM | 4:49 PM – 5:33 PM | 44 min | 9h 23m |
| February | 7:39 AM | 6:14 PM | 5:34 PM – 6:14 PM | 40 min | 10h 34m |
| March | 7:54 AM | 7:49 PM | 7:11 PM – 7:49 PM | 38 min | 11h 55m |
| April | 7:00 AM | 8:25 PM | 7:47 PM – 8:25 PM | 38 min | 13h 25m |
| May | 6:19 AM | 8:59 PM | 8:18 PM – 8:59 PM | 41 min | 14h 40m |
| June | 6:03 AM | 9:23 PM | 8:40 PM – 9:23 PM | 43 min | 15h 20m |
| July | 6:17 AM | 9:19 PM | 8:37 PM – 9:19 PM | 42 min | 15h 02m |
| August | 6:48 AM | 8:44 PM | 8:05 PM – 8:44 PM | 39 min | 13h 56m |
| September | 7:22 AM | 7:52 PM | 7:15 PM – 7:52 PM | 37 min | 12h 30m |
| October | 7:56 AM | 6:59 PM | 6:21 PM – 6:59 PM | 38 min | 11h 04m |
| November | 7:35 AM | 5:19 PM | 4:36 PM – 5:19 PM | 43 min | 9h 44m |
| December | 8:06 AM | 5:08 PM | 4:22 PM – 5:08 PM | 46 min | 9h 02m |
Golden hour is not the same length all year in Grand Rapids. It is longest in December at about 46 minutes and shortest in September at about 37 minutes — a difference of 9 minutes of usable warm light per evening.
Grand Rapids gets 6h 18m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 5:08 PM in December to 9:23 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 9:58 PM, and in December until about 5:41 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.
