Free photographer's tool

Golden Hour in Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas's dry desert air is a gift to photographers: almost no haze, which means crisp golden light, hard clean shadows, and an afterglow that keeps painting the sky long after the sun is down. The times below are computed live for Las Vegas'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: Red Rock Canyon's scenic loop. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.

In Las Vegas, sunset ranges from 4:25 PM in December to 8:01 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Las Vegas's coordinates (36.1699, -115.1398) and shown in America/Los_Angeles.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Las Vegas by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January6:50 AM4:49 PM4:11 PM – 4:49 PM38 min9h 59m
February6:27 AM5:21 PM4:46 PM – 5:21 PM35 min10h 54m
March6:51 AM6:48 PM6:14 PM – 6:48 PM34 min11h 57m
April6:07 AM7:14 PM6:40 PM – 7:14 PM34 min13h 08m
May5:34 AM7:40 PM7:03 PM – 7:40 PM37 min14h 06m
June5:22 AM7:59 PM7:21 PM – 7:59 PM38 min14h 37m
July5:35 AM7:57 PM7:20 PM – 7:57 PM37 min14h 23m
August5:58 AM7:30 PM6:55 PM – 7:30 PM35 min13h 32m
September6:23 AM6:47 PM6:13 PM – 6:47 PM34 min12h 24m
October6:47 AM6:04 PM5:29 PM – 6:04 PM35 min11h 17m
November6:17 AM4:32 PM3:54 PM – 4:32 PM38 min10h 15m
December6:44 AM4:27 PM3:47 PM – 4:27 PM40 min9h 43m

How the light changes through the year in Las Vegas

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Las Vegas. It is longest in December at about 40 minutes and shortest in March at about 34 minutes — a difference of 6 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Las Vegas gets 4h 54m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:27 PM in December to 7:59 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 8:29 PM, and in December until about 4:55 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:25 PM on December 1
  • Latest sunset: 8:01 PM on June 21
  • Longest day: 14h 37m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 42m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 38 minutes in June, 40 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.