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Golden Hour in Mesa, AZ

Whether you're shooting portraits, real estate or just chasing a good sky, this is when the light works in Mesa. Every time below is computed live for Mesa's coordinates and updates for any date.

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: Reflections double golden hour: water, glass buildings and wet pavement all pick up the sky's color in the hour around sunset.

In Mesa, sunset ranges from 5:19 PM in November to 7:41 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Mesa's coordinates (33.4223, -111.8226) and shown in America/Phoenix.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Mesa by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:31 AM5:42 PM5:05 PM – 5:42 PM37 min10h 12m
February7:11 AM6:12 PM5:37 PM – 6:12 PM35 min11h 01m
March6:37 AM6:35 PM6:02 PM – 6:35 PM33 min11h 58m
April5:56 AM6:58 PM6:24 PM – 6:58 PM34 min13h 01m
May5:26 AM7:20 PM6:45 PM – 7:20 PM35 min13h 54m
June5:17 AM7:38 PM7:02 PM – 7:38 PM36 min14h 22m
July5:28 AM7:37 PM7:01 PM – 7:37 PM36 min14h 09m
August5:49 AM7:13 PM6:39 PM – 7:13 PM34 min13h 23m
September6:10 AM6:33 PM6:00 PM – 6:33 PM33 min12h 23m
October6:32 AM5:53 PM5:19 PM – 5:53 PM34 min11h 21m
November6:58 AM5:24 PM4:48 PM – 5:24 PM36 min10h 26m
December7:23 AM5:21 PM4:43 PM – 5:21 PM38 min9h 57m

How the light changes through the year in Mesa

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Mesa. It is longest in December at about 38 minutes and shortest in March at about 33 minutes — a difference of 5 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Mesa gets 4h 25m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 5:21 PM in December to 7:38 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 8:07 PM, and in December until about 5:48 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 5:19 PM on November 27
  • Latest sunset: 7:41 PM on June 26
  • Longest day: 14h 22m 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/Phoenix

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.