Free photographer's tool

Golden Hour in Lancaster, CA

Calculated sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for Lancaster, CA. Select a date to view the calculated light times.

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.

Photography planning

Terrain, buildings and weather can affect visible light. Check the horizon and conditions at the selected location.

In Lancaster, sunset ranges from 4:41 PM in November to 8:09 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Lancaster's coordinates (34.698, -118.1367) and shown in America/Los_Angeles.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Lancaster by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January6:59 AM5:05 PM4:27 PM – 5:05 PM38 min10h 06m
February6:37 AM5:35 PM5:01 PM – 5:35 PM34 min10h 58m
March7:02 AM7:00 PM6:27 PM – 7:00 PM33 min11h 58m
April6:20 AM7:24 PM6:51 PM – 7:24 PM33 min13h 04m
May5:49 AM7:48 PM7:13 PM – 7:48 PM35 min13h 59m
June5:38 AM8:07 PM7:30 PM – 8:07 PM37 min14h 28m
July5:50 AM8:06 PM7:29 PM – 8:06 PM37 min14h 15m
August6:13 AM7:40 PM7:05 PM – 7:40 PM35 min13h 27m
September6:35 AM6:59 PM6:25 PM – 6:59 PM34 min12h 23m
October6:58 AM6:17 PM5:43 PM – 6:17 PM34 min11h 19m
November6:26 AM4:47 PM4:10 PM – 4:47 PM37 min10h 21m
December6:52 AM4:43 PM4:04 PM – 4:43 PM39 min9h 51m

How the light changes through the year in Lancaster

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Lancaster. It is longest in December at about 39 minutes and shortest in March at about 33 minutes — a difference of 6 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Lancaster gets 4h 37m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:43 PM in December to 8:07 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 8:36 PM, and in December until about 5:11 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:41 PM on November 29
  • Latest sunset: 8:09 PM on June 21
  • Longest day: 14h 29m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 50m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 37 minutes in June, 39 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/Los_Angeles

What is golden hour?

Golden hour is the period near sunrise and sunset when the sun is low. Blue hour occurs before sunrise and after sunset. Calculated times vary with location and date; weather, terrain and buildings can affect visible light.

Photography services

Kanyon Studio provides photography and video in San Diego. Location, lighting and scheduling are agreed for each shoot.