Calculated sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for Rochester, NY. Select a date to view the calculated light times.
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.
Terrain, buildings and weather can affect visible light. Check the horizon and conditions at the selected location.
In Rochester, sunset ranges from 4:35 PM in December to 8:54 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Rochester's coordinates (43.1548, -77.6156) and shown in America/New_York.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:39 AM | 5:00 PM | 4:16 PM – 5:00 PM | 44 min | 9h 22m |
| February | 7:08 AM | 5:41 PM | 5:01 PM – 5:41 PM | 40 min | 10h 34m |
| March | 7:22 AM | 7:16 PM | 6:39 PM – 7:16 PM | 37 min | 11h 55m |
| April | 6:28 AM | 7:53 PM | 7:15 PM – 7:53 PM | 38 min | 13h 25m |
| May | 5:46 AM | 8:27 PM | 7:46 PM – 8:27 PM | 41 min | 14h 41m |
| June | 5:30 AM | 8:52 PM | 8:08 PM – 8:52 PM | 44 min | 15h 22m |
| July | 5:44 AM | 8:48 PM | 8:05 PM – 8:48 PM | 43 min | 15h 03m |
| August | 6:16 AM | 8:12 PM | 7:33 PM – 8:12 PM | 39 min | 13h 57m |
| September | 6:50 AM | 7:20 PM | 6:42 PM – 7:20 PM | 38 min | 12h 30m |
| October | 7:24 AM | 6:27 PM | 5:48 PM – 6:27 PM | 39 min | 11h 03m |
| November | 7:03 AM | 4:46 PM | 4:03 PM – 4:46 PM | 43 min | 9h 43m |
| December | 7:35 AM | 4:35 PM | 3:49 PM – 4:35 PM | 46 min | 9h 01m |
Golden hour is not the same length all year in Rochester. It is longest in December at about 46 minutes and shortest in March at about 37 minutes — a difference of 9 minutes of usable warm light per evening.
Rochester gets 6h 21m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:35 PM in December to 8:52 PM in June, so an evening shoot that works in summer will be shooting in the dark at the same clock time in winter.
Blue hour follows sunset and is worth planning for separately: in June it runs until about 9:27 PM, and in December until about 5:08 PM.
Golden hour is the period near sunrise and sunset when the sun is low. Blue hour occurs before sunrise and after sunset. Calculated times vary with location and date; weather, terrain and buildings can affect visible light.
Kanyon Studio provides photography and video in San Diego. Location, lighting and scheduling are agreed for each shoot.