The golden hour is the period shortly after sunrise and before sunset when the sun sits low in the sky, roughly from 6 degrees above the horizon down to about 4 degrees below it. The light is soft, warm and directional, with long shadows and low contrast, which is why it flatters skin, landscapes and almost everything else.
The blue hour is the twilight period before sunrise and after sunset when the sun is between about 4 and 6 degrees below the horizon. The sky takes on a deep, even blue and the light is cool and diffuse, ideal for cityscapes, architecture and moody portraits with ambient light balanced against artificial lighting.
It depends on your latitude and the season. Near the equator the sun drops steeply, so golden hour can be as short as 20 minutes; at higher latitudes and around the solstices it lasts much longer, sometimes over an hour. This calculator gives you the exact start, end and duration for your location and date.
Yes. It uses a standard, well-tested solar-position algorithm and computes times from your exact coordinates, either your device's location or coordinates you enter. Times are shown in your device's timezone, so they are correct when you are in or near the location you are calculating for.
Open this page, allow location or pick your city, and leave the date on today. It shows this morning's and this evening's golden hour windows along with sunrise, sunset, solar noon and both blue hours. Change the date to plan a shoot on any future day.