Whether you're shooting portraits, real estate or just chasing a good sky, this is when the light works in Norfolk. Every time below is computed live for Norfolk's coordinates and updates for any date. On this side of the country, sunrise is the underrated window — the sun comes up over the Atlantic side and morning golden hour is quieter than the evening one.
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.
Golden hour in Norfolk is the hour before sunset — and sunset here runs from 4:48 PM in December to 8:28 PM in June. The table below gives the exact window for every month, in Norfolk's own time zone.
Use the live times above for today's exact window. As a rule, evening golden hour in Norfolk starts about 39 minutes before sunset and ends at sunset. In June that is 7:47 PM – 8:26 PM; in December it is 4:09 PM – 4:49 PM.
Sunset in Norfolk is earliest at 4:48 PM on December 1 and latest at 8:28 PM on June 23, a swing of about 4 hours across the year.
Golden hour lasts about 39 minutes in midsummer and 40 minutes in midwinter. The longest evening golden hour falls in December at about 40 minutes; the shortest is in March at about 34 minutes.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:17 AM | 5:12 PM | 4:33 PM – 5:12 PM | 39 min | 9h 55m |
| February | 6:53 AM | 5:45 PM | 5:09 PM – 5:45 PM | 36 min | 10h 52m |
| March | 7:15 AM | 7:12 PM | 6:38 PM – 7:12 PM | 34 min | 11h 57m |
| April | 6:31 AM | 7:39 PM | 7:05 PM – 7:39 PM | 34 min | 13h 09m |
| May | 5:57 AM | 8:06 PM | 7:29 PM – 8:06 PM | 37 min | 14h 09m |
| June | 5:45 AM | 8:26 PM | 7:47 PM – 8:26 PM | 39 min | 14h 41m |
| July | 5:57 AM | 8:24 PM | 7:46 PM – 8:24 PM | 38 min | 14h 26m |
| August | 6:22 AM | 7:56 PM | 7:20 PM – 7:56 PM | 36 min | 13h 34m |
| September | 6:47 AM | 7:12 PM | 6:38 PM – 7:12 PM | 34 min | 12h 25m |
| October | 7:12 AM | 6:28 PM | 5:53 PM – 6:28 PM | 35 min | 11h 16m |
| November | 6:43 AM | 4:55 PM | 4:17 PM – 4:55 PM | 38 min | 10h 12m |
| December | 7:10 AM | 4:49 PM | 4:09 PM – 4:49 PM | 40 min | 9h 39m |
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.
