Palm Springs's dry desert air is a gift to photographers: almost no haze, which means crisp golden light, hard clean shadows, and an afterglow that keeps painting the sky long after the sun is down. The times below are computed live for Palm Springs'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 windmill fields on the valley floor. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.
In Palm Springs, sunset ranges from 4:37 PM in November to 8:01 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 37 minutes at the summer solstice and 38 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Palm Springs (America/Los_Angeles).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6:50 AM | 5:00 PM | 4:23 PM – 5:00 PM | 37 min | 10h 10m |
| February | 6:30 AM | 5:30 PM | 4:56 PM – 5:30 PM | 34 min | 11h 00m |
| March | 6:56 AM | 6:54 PM | 6:21 PM – 6:54 PM | 33 min | 11h 58m |
| April | 6:15 AM | 7:17 PM | 6:44 PM – 7:17 PM | 33 min | 13h 02m |
| May | 5:44 AM | 7:40 PM | 7:05 PM – 7:40 PM | 35 min | 13h 56m |
| June | 5:34 AM | 7:58 PM | 7:21 PM – 7:58 PM | 37 min | 14h 24m |
| July | 5:46 AM | 7:57 PM | 7:21 PM – 7:57 PM | 36 min | 14h 11m |
| August | 6:08 AM | 7:32 PM | 6:58 PM – 7:32 PM | 34 min | 13h 24m |
| September | 6:29 AM | 6:52 PM | 6:19 PM – 6:52 PM | 33 min | 12h 23m |
| October | 6:51 AM | 6:12 PM | 5:38 PM – 6:12 PM | 34 min | 11h 21m |
| November | 6:18 AM | 4:42 PM | 4:06 PM – 4:42 PM | 36 min | 10h 24m |
| December | 6:43 AM | 4:38 PM | 4:00 PM – 4:38 PM | 38 min | 9h 55m |
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.
