The difference between a flat photo and a glowing one in Santa Rosa is usually forty-five minutes. The calculator below shows exactly which forty-five minutes — today's sunset, sunrise, golden and blue hour, live. With a west-facing coastline nearby, evenings are the show — the sun drops toward the Pacific and the last hour of light runs warm and long.
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: Arrive 30 minutes before the golden hour window opens. Setup always takes longer than planned, and the first ten minutes of good light are often the best.
In Santa Rosa, sunset ranges from 4:49 PM in December to 8:38 PM in June. All times local to Santa Rosa (America/Los_Angeles).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:26 AM | 5:14 PM | 4:34 PM – 5:14 PM | 40 min | 9h 48m |
| February | 7:01 AM | 5:49 PM | 5:12 PM – 5:49 PM | 37 min | 10h 48m |
| March | 7:21 AM | 7:18 PM | 6:43 PM – 7:18 PM | 35 min | 11h 56m |
| April | 6:34 AM | 7:47 PM | 7:12 PM – 7:47 PM | 35 min | 13h 13m |
| May | 5:59 AM | 8:15 PM | 7:37 PM – 8:15 PM | 38 min | 14h 16m |
| June | 5:46 AM | 8:36 PM | 7:57 PM – 8:36 PM | 39 min | 14h 50m |
| July | 5:59 AM | 8:34 PM | 7:55 PM – 8:34 PM | 39 min | 14h 35m |
| August | 6:25 AM | 8:04 PM | 7:28 PM – 8:04 PM | 36 min | 13h 39m |
| September | 6:52 AM | 7:18 PM | 6:43 PM – 7:18 PM | 35 min | 12h 26m |
| October | 7:20 AM | 6:32 PM | 5:56 PM – 6:32 PM | 36 min | 11h 12m |
| November | 6:52 AM | 4:57 PM | 4:18 PM – 4:57 PM | 39 min | 10h 05m |
| December | 7:21 AM | 4:51 PM | 4:09 PM – 4:51 PM | 42 min | 9h 30m |
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.
