Tucson'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 Tucson'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: Gates Pass in the Tucson Mountains. Arrive 30 minutes before the window opens to set up, and keep shooting into blue hour — it's shorter than you think.
In Tucson, sunset ranges from 5:18 PM in November to 7:34 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 36 minutes at the summer solstice and 37 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Tucson (America/Phoenix).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:25 AM | 5:41 PM | 5:05 PM – 5:41 PM | 36 min | 10h 17m |
| February | 7:06 AM | 6:10 PM | 5:36 PM – 6:10 PM | 34 min | 11h 04m |
| March | 6:33 AM | 6:32 PM | 5:59 PM – 6:32 PM | 33 min | 11h 58m |
| April | 5:54 AM | 6:53 PM | 6:20 PM – 6:53 PM | 33 min | 12h 59m |
| May | 5:26 AM | 7:14 PM | 6:40 PM – 7:14 PM | 34 min | 13h 49m |
| June | 5:16 AM | 7:32 PM | 6:56 PM – 7:32 PM | 36 min | 14h 15m |
| July | 5:28 AM | 7:31 PM | 6:56 PM – 7:31 PM | 35 min | 14h 03m |
| August | 5:48 AM | 7:07 PM | 6:34 PM – 7:07 PM | 33 min | 13h 20m |
| September | 6:07 AM | 6:29 PM | 5:57 PM – 6:29 PM | 32 min | 12h 22m |
| October | 6:27 AM | 5:51 PM | 5:18 PM – 5:51 PM | 33 min | 11h 23m |
| November | 6:53 AM | 5:23 PM | 4:48 PM – 5:23 PM | 35 min | 10h 30m |
| December | 7:17 AM | 5:20 PM | 4:43 PM – 5:20 PM | 37 min | 10h 03m |
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.
