Photographers plan around two windows: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. Here are both for High Point — computed live for its exact coordinates, accurate for any date you pick. 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: Arrive 30 minutes before the golden hour window opens. Setup always takes longer than planned, and the first ten minutes of good light are often the best.
In High Point, sunset ranges from 5:05 PM in December to 8:40 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 38 minutes at the summer solstice and 40 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to High Point (America/New_York).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:29 AM | 5:29 PM | 4:51 PM – 5:29 PM | 38 min | 10h 00m |
| February | 7:07 AM | 6:01 PM | 5:26 PM – 6:01 PM | 35 min | 10h 55m |
| March | 7:30 AM | 7:27 PM | 6:53 PM – 7:27 PM | 34 min | 11h 57m |
| April | 6:46 AM | 7:53 PM | 7:19 PM – 7:53 PM | 34 min | 13h 07m |
| May | 6:14 AM | 8:18 PM | 7:42 PM – 8:18 PM | 36 min | 14h 05m |
| June | 6:02 AM | 8:38 PM | 8:00 PM – 8:38 PM | 38 min | 14h 35m |
| July | 6:15 AM | 8:36 PM | 7:59 PM – 8:36 PM | 37 min | 14h 22m |
| August | 6:38 AM | 8:09 PM | 7:34 PM – 8:09 PM | 35 min | 13h 31m |
| September | 7:02 AM | 7:27 PM | 6:53 PM – 7:27 PM | 34 min | 12h 24m |
| October | 7:26 AM | 6:44 PM | 6:09 PM – 6:44 PM | 35 min | 11h 17m |
| November | 6:56 AM | 5:12 PM | 4:35 PM – 5:12 PM | 37 min | 10h 16m |
| December | 7:23 AM | 5:07 PM | 4:27 PM – 5:07 PM | 40 min | 9h 44m |
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.
