The difference between a flat photo and a glowing one in Naperville 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.
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 Naperville, sunset ranges from 4:21 PM in December to 8:31 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 42 minutes at the summer solstice and 45 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Naperville (America/Chicago).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:17 AM | 4:47 PM | 4:04 PM – 4:47 PM | 43 min | 9h 30m |
| February | 6:47 AM | 5:25 PM | 4:47 PM – 5:25 PM | 38 min | 10h 38m |
| March | 7:04 AM | 6:59 PM | 6:22 PM – 6:59 PM | 37 min | 11h 55m |
| April | 6:12 AM | 7:33 PM | 6:56 PM – 7:33 PM | 37 min | 13h 21m |
| May | 5:32 AM | 8:05 PM | 7:25 PM – 8:05 PM | 40 min | 14h 33m |
| June | 5:17 AM | 8:29 PM | 7:47 PM – 8:29 PM | 42 min | 15h 12m |
| July | 5:31 AM | 8:25 PM | 7:44 PM – 8:25 PM | 41 min | 14h 55m |
| August | 6:01 AM | 7:52 PM | 7:14 PM – 7:52 PM | 38 min | 13h 51m |
| September | 6:32 AM | 7:01 PM | 6:25 PM – 7:01 PM | 36 min | 12h 29m |
| October | 7:04 AM | 6:11 PM | 5:33 PM – 6:11 PM | 38 min | 11h 06m |
| November | 6:42 AM | 4:31 PM | 3:50 PM – 4:31 PM | 41 min | 9h 50m |
| December | 7:12 AM | 4:22 PM | 3:37 PM – 4:22 PM | 45 min | 9h 10m |
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.
