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Golden Hour in Laguna Beach, CA

Laguna Beach faces the Pacific, which makes evening golden hour the headline act: the sun drops all the way into open water, so the warm light holds right up until sunset and the blue hour afterward glows over the ocean. The times below are computed live for Laguna Beach's exact coordinates and update automatically for any date you pick.

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 golden hour spot: Crescent Bay Point Park. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.

In Laguna Beach, sunset ranges from 4:42 PM in December to 8:05 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 36 minutes at the summer solstice and 38 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Laguna Beach (America/Los_Angeles).

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Laguna Beach by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January6:55 AM5:06 PM4:29 PM – 5:06 PM37 min10h 11m
February6:35 AM5:35 PM5:01 PM – 5:35 PM34 min11h 01m
March7:01 AM6:59 PM6:26 PM – 6:59 PM33 min11h 58m
April6:20 AM7:22 PM6:48 PM – 7:22 PM34 min13h 02m
May5:50 AM7:44 PM7:09 PM – 7:44 PM35 min13h 54m
June5:40 AM8:02 PM7:26 PM – 8:02 PM36 min14h 22m
July5:52 AM8:01 PM7:25 PM – 8:01 PM36 min14h 10m
August6:13 AM7:37 PM7:03 PM – 7:37 PM34 min13h 23m
September6:34 AM6:57 PM6:24 PM – 6:57 PM33 min12h 23m
October6:56 AM6:17 PM5:43 PM – 6:17 PM34 min11h 21m
November6:22 AM4:48 PM4:12 PM – 4:48 PM36 min10h 25m
December6:48 AM4:44 PM4:06 PM – 4:44 PM38 min9h 57m

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:42 PM on December 1
  • Latest sunset: 8:05 PM on June 25
  • Longest day: 14h 23m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 56m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 36 minutes in June, 38 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/Los_Angeles

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.