With a west-facing coastline, Monterey is an evening town for photographers — golden hour ends in a true ocean sunset, and the marine haze often softens the light into a natural diffuser. The times below are computed live for Monterey'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.
Local golden hour spot: Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.
In Monterey, sunset ranges from 4:51 PM in December to 8:30 PM in June. All times local to Monterey (America/Los_Angeles).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:18 AM | 5:15 PM | 4:36 PM – 5:15 PM | 39 min | 9h 57m |
| February | 6:55 AM | 5:48 PM | 5:12 PM – 5:48 PM | 36 min | 10h 53m |
| March | 7:18 AM | 7:15 PM | 6:41 PM – 7:15 PM | 34 min | 11h 57m |
| April | 6:33 AM | 7:42 PM | 7:07 PM – 7:42 PM | 35 min | 13h 09m |
| May | 6:00 AM | 8:08 PM | 7:31 PM – 8:08 PM | 37 min | 14h 08m |
| June | 5:48 AM | 8:27 PM | 7:49 PM – 8:27 PM | 38 min | 14h 39m |
| July | 6:01 AM | 8:25 PM | 7:48 PM – 8:25 PM | 37 min | 14h 25m |
| August | 6:25 AM | 7:58 PM | 7:22 PM – 7:58 PM | 36 min | 13h 33m |
| September | 6:50 AM | 7:14 PM | 6:40 PM – 7:14 PM | 34 min | 12h 25m |
| October | 7:15 AM | 6:30 PM | 5:56 PM – 6:30 PM | 34 min | 11h 16m |
| November | 6:45 AM | 4:58 PM | 4:20 PM – 4:58 PM | 38 min | 10h 13m |
| December | 7:12 AM | 4:53 PM | 4:12 PM – 4:53 PM | 41 min | 9h 41m |
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.
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.
