b-roll.net Golden Hour Calculator

[b-roll]

After I bragged about a “golden hour” calculator I found on the internet, Amanda Emily, photog historian and lifesaving server-tech, told me she had already built one. She kindly shared it with the b-roll community, and we’re now proud to unveil the b-roll.net Golden Hour Calculator.

Even though it sounds like half-price drink time at the bar, “golden hour” is that twice daily time when the sunlight is most pleasing. Normally just after sunrise and just before the sun sets – if you have a fairly cloudless sky.

This calculator figures out where you are in the world and gives you a 30 day chart of morning and evening “golden hours” and “blue hours.”* Blue hours always seem to hit right when you’re doing an evening live shot and the need to change light filters increases minute by minute.

So please test out the b-roll.net Golden Hour Calculator and let us know what you think. Thanks again to Amanda Emily for her hard work coding this helpful resource.

And continued appreciation for her helping to keep b-roll.net free of hackers…

[Chicago Dog]

That's a great idea! Thanks for the cool tool, Amanda, and thanks for incorporating it into the site, Kev!

Keep up the great work!

[Lensmith]

Thanks Kev and Amanda!
Works well on my Blackberry!

[2000lux]

Cool! I could have used this a few weeks ago when I was shooting live shots at the JFK Library. I called some one and had them look up on the internet when sunset would be so I could plan ahead for lighting.

[Speed Graphic]

Complaints, bugs and suggestions for new features or changes can be added below this message.

Now the details for the light nerds if you grok this kind of stuff:

The script is using the US Navy's standard zenith of 90+50/60' to determine sunrise and sunset times for a given latitude and longitude.

The "Golden Hour" is assumed to start when the solar declination is at 6 degrees above the horizon, which is good enough for most places in the world to give a rough estimated time when it starts. If you are close to the equator or poles, the script will be off of course.

The "Blue Hour" is assumed to end when the sun is at 7 degrees below the horizon, again, close enough for government work.