Oakland's bay geography gives you both: water reflections and a city skyline to silhouette. Evening golden hour lights the waterfront, then blue hour turns on the city. The times below are computed live for Oakland'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: the Middle Harbor Shoreline with the SF skyline. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.
In Oakland, sunset ranges from 4:49 PM in December to 8:35 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 39 minutes at the summer solstice and 41 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Oakland (America/Los_Angeles).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:23 AM | 5:14 PM | 4:34 PM – 5:14 PM | 40 min | 9h 51m |
| February | 6:58 AM | 5:48 PM | 5:11 PM – 5:48 PM | 37 min | 10h 50m |
| March | 7:19 AM | 7:16 PM | 6:41 PM – 7:16 PM | 35 min | 11h 57m |
| April | 6:33 AM | 7:45 PM | 7:09 PM – 7:45 PM | 36 min | 13h 11m |
| May | 5:59 AM | 8:12 PM | 7:34 PM – 8:12 PM | 38 min | 14h 13m |
| June | 5:46 AM | 8:32 PM | 7:53 PM – 8:32 PM | 39 min | 14h 46m |
| July | 5:59 AM | 8:30 PM | 7:52 PM – 8:30 PM | 38 min | 14h 31m |
| August | 6:24 AM | 8:01 PM | 7:25 PM – 8:01 PM | 36 min | 13h 37m |
| September | 6:51 AM | 7:16 PM | 6:42 PM – 7:16 PM | 34 min | 12h 26m |
| October | 7:17 AM | 6:31 PM | 5:55 PM – 6:31 PM | 36 min | 11h 14m |
| November | 6:49 AM | 4:57 PM | 4:18 PM – 4:57 PM | 39 min | 10h 08m |
| December | 7:17 AM | 4:51 PM | 4:10 PM – 4:51 PM | 41 min | 9h 34m |
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.
