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Golden Hour in Lincoln, NE

The difference between a flat photo and a glowing one in Lincoln is usually forty-five minutes. The calculator below shows exactly which forty-five minutes — today's sunset, sunrise, golden and blue hour, live.

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 tip: Golden hour moves every single day. If you're planning a shoot more than a week out, check the date itself — the window can shift by 20+ minutes.

In Lincoln, sunset ranges from 4:58 PM in December to 9:02 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Lincoln's coordinates (40.8, -96.667) and shown in America/Chicago.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Lincoln by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:48 AM5:23 PM4:41 PM – 5:23 PM42 min9h 35m
February7:20 AM6:01 PM5:23 PM – 6:01 PM38 min10h 41m
March7:38 AM7:33 PM6:57 PM – 7:33 PM36 min11h 55m
April6:47 AM8:06 PM7:29 PM – 8:06 PM37 min13h 19m
May6:09 AM8:37 PM7:58 PM – 8:37 PM39 min14h 28m
June5:54 AM9:00 PM8:18 PM – 9:00 PM42 min15h 05m
July6:08 AM8:56 PM8:16 PM – 8:56 PM40 min14h 49m
August6:36 AM8:24 PM7:47 PM – 8:24 PM37 min13h 48m
September7:07 AM7:35 PM6:59 PM – 7:35 PM36 min12h 28m
October7:38 AM6:46 PM6:08 PM – 6:46 PM38 min11h 08m
November7:13 AM5:08 PM4:27 PM – 5:08 PM41 min9h 54m
December7:43 AM4:59 PM4:16 PM – 4:59 PM43 min9h 16m

How the light changes through the year in Lincoln

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Lincoln. It is longest in December at about 43 minutes and shortest in March at about 36 minutes — a difference of 7 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Lincoln gets 5h 49m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:59 PM in December to 9:00 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 9:33 PM, and in December until about 5:30 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:58 PM on December 5
  • Latest sunset: 9:02 PM on June 23
  • Longest day: 15h 06m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 15m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 42 minutes in June, 43 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/Chicago

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.