Golden hour in Essen
Golden hour in Essen starts at 20:57 on 15 June and runs 54 minutes; on 15 December it is 61 minutes from 15:23. The calculator above is preset to Essen — pick a date and sunrise, sunset, golden and blue hour for that exact shoot day are right there, exportable as a calendar entry.
Golden hour calculator for Essen
Or enter coordinates
- Sunrise
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- Sunset
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- Golden hour (am)
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- Golden hour (pm)
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- Blue hour (pm)
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- Daylight
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- Sunset azimuth
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Golden and blue hour in Essen: all twelve months
The table shows mid-month (the 15th) — computed from the coordinates of Essen (51.4556, 7.0116) in the Europe/Berlin timezone, DST included. Between December (61 minutes) and March (44 minutes) the evening window changes by a factor of 1.4.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden am (until) | Golden pm (from) | Blue hour (from) | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 08:32 | 16:52 | 09:29 | 15:55 | 17:16 | 8h 21min |
| February | 07:47 | 17:47 | 08:35 | 16:59 | 18:08 | 10h 00min |
| March | 06:48 | 18:36 | 07:32 | 17:52 | 18:56 | 11h 49min |
| April | 06:37 | 20:28 | 07:22 | 19:43 | 20:49 | 13h 50min |
| May | 05:42 | 21:17 | 06:31 | 20:27 | 21:42 | 15h 35min |
| June | 05:15 | 21:51 | 06:09 | 20:57 | 22:19 | 16h 36min |
| July | 05:33 | 21:44 | 06:25 | 20:52 | 22:11 | 16h 11min |
| August | 06:18 | 20:57 | 07:05 | 20:10 | 21:20 | 14h 39min |
| September | 07:07 | 19:49 | 07:51 | 19:05 | 20:10 | 12h 42min |
| October | 07:56 | 18:41 | 08:42 | 17:55 | 19:02 | 10h 45min |
| November | 07:50 | 16:45 | 08:44 | 15:51 | 17:07 | 8h 54min |
| December | 08:32 | 16:24 | 09:33 | 15:23 | 16:49 | 7h 53min |
Fitting the window into the shoot day
The evening window is the reliable half: the crew is warmed up, the setup exists, and golden hour is the last slot before wrap. The morning window right after sunrise (until 06:09 in June) instead requires camera and lighting to be standing before sunrise — with a call well before 05:15.
After sunset, Essen still offers the blue hour: from 22:19 to 22:39 in June (19 minutes). If you need both looks on one evening, everything from the start of golden hour to the end of blue hour is one continuous window — with no room for a re-rig inside it.
Frequently asked
When is golden hour in Essen today?
Pick today's date in the calculator above — it computes the times for Essen from the coordinates, DST included. As a bearing: in mid-June it starts at 20:57, in mid-December at 15:23.
How long does golden hour last in Essen?
Between 44 minutes (March) and 61 minutes (December) in the evening. The name misleads — it only reaches a full hour in the longest months.
How accurate are the times?
To about one minute (standard NOAA-style solar computation). Not included: horizon shading from buildings or hills to the west — which can genuinely shorten the window at your location.