Photographers plan around two windows: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. Here are both for Saint Paul — computed live for its exact coordinates, accurate 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 tip: Golden hour moves every single day. If you're planning a shoot more than a week out, check the date itself — the window can shift by 20+ minutes.
Golden hour in Saint Paul is the hour before sunset — and sunset here runs from 4:30 PM in December to 9:03 PM in June. The table below gives the exact window for every month, in Saint Paul's own time zone.
Use the live times above for today's exact window. As a rule, evening golden hour in Saint Paul starts about 45 minutes before sunset and ends at sunset. In June that is 8:15 PM – 9:00 PM; in December it is 3:42 PM – 4:31 PM.
Sunset in Saint Paul is earliest at 4:30 PM on December 7 and latest at 9:03 PM on June 24, a swing of about 4 hours across the year.
Golden hour lasts about 45 minutes in midsummer and 49 minutes in midwinter. The longest evening golden hour falls in December at about 49 minutes; the shortest is in September at about 38 minutes.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:46 AM | 4:57 PM | 4:10 PM – 4:57 PM | 47 min | 9h 11m |
| February | 7:12 AM | 5:40 PM | 4:59 PM – 5:40 PM | 41 min | 10h 28m |
| March | 7:24 AM | 7:18 PM | 6:39 PM – 7:18 PM | 39 min | 11h 54m |
| April | 6:27 AM | 7:57 PM | 7:18 PM – 7:57 PM | 39 min | 13h 30m |
| May | 5:43 AM | 8:34 PM | 7:52 PM – 8:34 PM | 42 min | 14h 51m |
| June | 5:25 AM | 9:00 PM | 8:15 PM – 9:00 PM | 45 min | 15h 36m |
| July | 5:40 AM | 8:55 PM | 8:12 PM – 8:55 PM | 43 min | 15h 16m |
| August | 6:14 AM | 8:18 PM | 7:38 PM – 8:18 PM | 40 min | 14h 04m |
| September | 6:51 AM | 7:22 PM | 6:44 PM – 7:22 PM | 38 min | 12h 32m |
| October | 7:28 AM | 6:27 PM | 5:47 PM – 6:27 PM | 40 min | 10h 59m |
| November | 7:10 AM | 4:43 PM | 3:58 PM – 4:43 PM | 45 min | 9h 33m |
| December | 7:43 AM | 4:31 PM | 3:42 PM – 4:31 PM | 49 min | 8h 48m |
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.
