Photography Golden Hour Planner

Choose a city, date, and subject to get blue hour, golden hour, moon phase, and shooting tips. Use it before heading out for sunsets, city lights, coastlines, or a moonrise in the frame.

Decide what kind of frame you want to bring home

• Light — Use golden hour and blue hour to choose warmth, silhouettes, or a cooler sky.
• Moon — Moon phase and moonrise affect foreground brightness and whether the moon can enter the frame.
• Frame — Pick the subject first: coast, city, ridge, person, or one place where waiting makes sense.

Take these scene ideas with you

The suggestions below connect timing data to subjects on location; adjust them for the weather and scene.

• Coast and wetlands

  Wait for the sky to change, and for water to reflect it

  At places like Gaomei Wetlands, tidal flats, water lines, and wind-turbine silhouettes all change around sunset. Watch when the water starts carrying the sky color.

• City and streets

  Do not wait until the sky is fully black

  Blue hour keeps the sky alive while the city lights turn on. It works well for bridges, intersections, traffic trails, building faces, and wet pavement.

• Moon and foreground

  The moon needs a place to belong

  Check moonrise or moonset, then find a ridge, seawall, tower, or skyline to align with it. A low moon is easier to put inside a real scene.

Before you head out

A timetable says when the light arrives. The memory in the photo comes from how you wait once you are there.

• Arrive 20 to 30 minutes early so you can find foregrounds and exits before the best minutes begin.
• When the sky is beautiful, still look down: water marks, reflections, street lights, turbines, and silhouettes often become the real subject.
• If clouds block the light, switch to silhouettes, details, reflections, or blue hour instead of waiting for only one image.

City Photography Calendar

Taiwan: Taipei · New Taipei · Taoyuan · Hsinchu · Miaoli · Taichung · Changhua · Nantou · Yunlin · Chiayi · Tainan · Kaohsiung · Pingtung · Kenting · Keelung · Yilan · Hualien · Taitung · Penghu · Kinmen · Matsu

Japan: Tokyo · Osaka · Kyoto · Nagoya · Kanazawa · Sapporo · Sendai · Fukuoka · Okinawa (Naha)

Asia: Hong Kong · Seoul · Beijing · Shanghai · Singapore · Bangkok · Kuala Lumpur · Manila

World: New York · Los Angeles · San Francisco · Vancouver · Honolulu · London · Paris · Berlin · Sydney · Melbourne

Related tools: Sun / Moon Path Map · Wetland Sunset Reflection Forecast · Stargazing & Moon Viewing Score