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Golden Hour in North Charleston, SC

North Charleston's golden hour is short, specific, and worth planning around. The times below are computed live for North Charleston's exact coordinates (32.8546, -79.9748) and update automatically for any date you pick — sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour, all in local time. 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.

Where to shoot it

Local tip: Overcast day? A thin cloud layer at golden hour acts like a giant softbox — some of the best portrait light happens on days everyone else stays home.

In North Charleston, sunset ranges from 5:13 PM in November to 8:32 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 36 minutes at the summer solstice and 38 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to North Charleston (America/New_York).

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in North Charleston by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:22 AM5:36 PM4:59 PM – 5:36 PM37 min10h 14m
February7:03 AM6:05 PM5:31 PM – 6:05 PM34 min11h 02m
March7:30 AM7:27 PM6:55 PM – 7:27 PM32 min11h 58m
April6:50 AM7:50 PM7:17 PM – 7:50 PM33 min13h 00m
May6:20 AM8:12 PM7:37 PM – 8:12 PM35 min13h 51m
June6:11 AM8:29 PM7:53 PM – 8:29 PM36 min14h 19m
July6:22 AM8:29 PM7:53 PM – 8:29 PM36 min14h 06m
August6:43 AM8:04 PM7:31 PM – 8:04 PM33 min13h 22m
September7:03 AM7:25 PM6:53 PM – 7:25 PM32 min12h 22m
October7:24 AM6:46 PM6:13 PM – 6:46 PM33 min11h 23m
November6:50 AM5:18 PM4:42 PM – 5:18 PM36 min10h 28m
December7:15 AM5:15 PM4:37 PM – 5:15 PM38 min10h 00m

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 5:13 PM on November 27
  • Latest sunset: 8:32 PM on June 25
  • Longest day: 14h 19m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 59m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 36 minutes in June, 38 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/New_York

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.