Photographers plan around two windows: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. Here are both for West Palm Beach — computed live for its exact coordinates, accurate for any date you pick. On this side of the country, sunrise is the underrated window — the sun comes up over the Atlantic side and morning golden hour is quieter than the evening one.
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 West Palm Beach, sunset ranges from 5:26 PM in November to 8:17 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 34 minutes at the summer solstice and 34 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to West Palm Beach (America/New_York).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:10 AM | 5:49 PM | 5:15 PM – 5:49 PM | 34 min | 10h 39m |
| February | 6:56 AM | 6:12 PM | 5:40 PM – 6:12 PM | 32 min | 11h 16m |
| March | 7:29 AM | 7:29 PM | 6:58 PM – 7:29 PM | 31 min | 12h 00m |
| April | 6:56 AM | 7:44 PM | 7:13 PM – 7:44 PM | 31 min | 12h 48m |
| May | 6:32 AM | 8:00 PM | 7:28 PM – 8:00 PM | 32 min | 13h 28m |
| June | 6:26 AM | 8:15 PM | 7:41 PM – 8:15 PM | 34 min | 13h 49m |
| July | 6:36 AM | 8:15 PM | 7:42 PM – 8:15 PM | 33 min | 13h 39m |
| August | 6:52 AM | 7:56 PM | 7:25 PM – 7:56 PM | 31 min | 13h 05m |
| September | 7:05 AM | 7:24 PM | 6:53 PM – 7:24 PM | 31 min | 12h 19m |
| October | 7:19 AM | 6:51 PM | 6:20 PM – 6:51 PM | 31 min | 11h 32m |
| November | 6:39 AM | 5:29 PM | 4:56 PM – 5:29 PM | 33 min | 10h 50m |
| December | 7:01 AM | 5:29 PM | 4:55 PM – 5:29 PM | 34 min | 10h 28m |
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.
