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Golden Hour in Louisville, KY

The difference between a flat photo and a glowing one in Louisville 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: For skylines and wide shots, the 15 minutes after sunset usually beats the sunset itself: the sky holds color while buildings and streetlights come up.

Golden hour in Louisville is the hour before sunset — and sunset here runs from 5:22 PM in December to 9:10 PM in June. The table below gives the exact window for every month, in Louisville's own time zone.

What time is golden hour in Louisville today?

Use the live times above for today's exact window. As a rule, evening golden hour in Louisville starts about 40 minutes before sunset and ends at sunset. In June that is 8:28 PM – 9:08 PM; in December it is 4:42 PM – 5:23 PM.

What time is sunset in Louisville?

Sunset in Louisville is earliest at 5:22 PM on December 2 and latest at 9:10 PM on June 22, a swing of about 4 hours across the year.

How long does golden hour last in Louisville?

Golden hour lasts about 40 minutes in midsummer and 41 minutes in midwinter. The longest evening golden hour falls in December at about 41 minutes; the shortest is in September at about 34 minutes.

Month-by-month times for Louisville

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:58 AM5:46 PM5:06 PM – 5:46 PM40 min9h 49m
February7:33 AM6:21 PM5:44 PM – 6:21 PM37 min10h 48m
March7:54 AM7:50 PM7:15 PM – 7:50 PM35 min11h 56m
April7:07 AM8:19 PM7:44 PM – 8:19 PM35 min13h 12m
May6:32 AM8:47 PM8:09 PM – 8:47 PM38 min14h 15m
June6:19 AM9:08 PM8:28 PM – 9:08 PM40 min14h 49m
July6:31 AM9:05 PM8:27 PM – 9:05 PM38 min14h 34m
August6:57 AM8:36 PM8:00 PM – 8:36 PM36 min13h 39m
September7:24 AM7:50 PM7:16 PM – 7:50 PM34 min12h 26m
October7:51 AM7:05 PM6:29 PM – 7:05 PM36 min11h 13m
November7:24 AM5:30 PM4:51 PM – 5:30 PM39 min10h 06m
December7:52 AM5:23 PM4:42 PM – 5:23 PM41 min9h 31m

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 5:22 PM on December 2
  • Latest sunset: 9:10 PM on June 22
  • Longest day: 14h 50m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 30m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 40 minutes in June, 41 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/Kentucky/Louisville

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.