Wilmington's golden hour is short, specific, and worth planning around. The times below are computed live for Wilmington's exact coordinates (34.2356, -77.946) and update automatically for any date you pick — sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour, all in local time. 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: Overcast day? A thin cloud layer at golden hour acts like a giant softbox — some of the best portrait light happens on days everyone else stays home.
In Wilmington, sunset ranges from 5:01 PM in December to 8:27 PM in June. All times local to Wilmington (America/New_York).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:17 AM | 5:25 PM | 4:47 PM – 5:25 PM | 38 min | 10h 08m |
| February | 6:56 AM | 5:55 PM | 5:20 PM – 5:55 PM | 35 min | 10h 59m |
| March | 7:22 AM | 7:19 PM | 6:46 PM – 7:19 PM | 33 min | 11h 57m |
| April | 6:40 AM | 7:43 PM | 7:09 PM – 7:43 PM | 34 min | 13h 03m |
| May | 6:09 AM | 8:06 PM | 7:31 PM – 8:06 PM | 35 min | 13h 57m |
| June | 5:59 AM | 8:25 PM | 7:48 PM – 8:25 PM | 37 min | 14h 26m |
| July | 6:11 AM | 8:24 PM | 7:47 PM – 8:24 PM | 37 min | 14h 13m |
| August | 6:33 AM | 7:58 PM | 7:24 PM – 7:58 PM | 34 min | 13h 26m |
| September | 6:55 AM | 7:18 PM | 6:45 PM – 7:18 PM | 33 min | 12h 23m |
| October | 7:17 AM | 6:37 PM | 6:03 PM – 6:37 PM | 34 min | 11h 20m |
| November | 6:44 AM | 5:07 PM | 4:31 PM – 5:07 PM | 36 min | 10h 23m |
| December | 7:10 AM | 5:03 PM | 4:25 PM – 5:03 PM | 38 min | 9h 53m |
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.
