Orlando's lakefront is the golden hour move: big open water means an unobstructed horizon in one direction and mirror-calm reflections on still evenings. The times below are computed live for Orlando'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: Lake Eola's east shore facing the skyline. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.
Golden hour in Orlando is the hour before sunset — and sunset here runs from 5:28 PM in November to 8:27 PM in June. The table below gives the exact window for every month, in Orlando's own time zone.
Use the live times above for today's exact window. As a rule, evening golden hour in Orlando starts about 34 minutes before sunset and ends at sunset. In June that is 7:50 PM – 8:24 PM; in December it is 4:55 PM – 5:30 PM.
Sunset in Orlando is earliest at 5:28 PM on November 25 and latest at 8:27 PM on June 26, a swing of about 3 hours across the year.
Golden hour lasts about 34 minutes in midsummer and 35 minutes in midwinter. The longest evening golden hour falls in January at about 35 minutes; the shortest is in September at about 31 minutes.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:19 AM | 5:51 PM | 5:16 PM – 5:51 PM | 35 min | 10h 32m |
| February | 7:03 AM | 6:16 PM | 5:43 PM – 6:16 PM | 33 min | 11h 12m |
| March | 7:35 AM | 7:34 PM | 7:02 PM – 7:34 PM | 32 min | 11h 59m |
| April | 7:00 AM | 7:51 PM | 7:19 PM – 7:51 PM | 32 min | 12h 51m |
| May | 6:34 AM | 8:09 PM | 7:36 PM – 8:09 PM | 33 min | 13h 34m |
| June | 6:27 AM | 8:24 PM | 7:50 PM – 8:24 PM | 34 min | 13h 57m |
| July | 6:37 AM | 8:24 PM | 7:51 PM – 8:24 PM | 33 min | 13h 47m |
| August | 6:55 AM | 8:04 PM | 7:32 PM – 8:04 PM | 32 min | 13h 10m |
| September | 7:10 AM | 7:30 PM | 6:59 PM – 7:30 PM | 31 min | 12h 20m |
| October | 7:26 AM | 6:55 PM | 6:24 PM – 6:55 PM | 31 min | 11h 29m |
| November | 6:48 AM | 5:31 PM | 4:58 PM – 5:31 PM | 33 min | 10h 44m |
| December | 7:10 AM | 5:30 PM | 4:55 PM – 5:30 PM | 35 min | 10h 20m |
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.
