What Time Is Magic Hour Today?
Today's magic hour windows for your location are shown above, with a live countdown to the next one. Magic hour comes twice a day, wrapped around sunrise and sunset, and the violet band on the animated sky shows exactly where it falls on today's sun path.
What Is Magic Hour?
"Magic hour" is the film industry's name for the whole low-sun period — everything from the sun hanging about 6° above the horizon to about 6° below it. In photography terms, it's golden hour and blue hour rolled into one continuous window of soft, cinematic light. The most famous devotee is Terrence Malick, who shot much of Days of Heaven almost exclusively in magic hour — a few usable minutes per day, for weeks — and won his cinematographer an Oscar doing it.
Magic Hour vs Golden Hour vs Blue Hour
Think of magic hour as the umbrella: it opens with warm golden-hour light, passes through sunset (or starts before sunrise), and closes with the cool blue-hour glow. If you only care about the warm light, track golden hour; for the deep blue city-light window, track blue hour; for the entire usable stretch of beautiful light, this page is the one to watch.
FAQ
How long does magic hour last?
At mid-latitudes typically 60–100 minutes per occurrence — longer than either golden or blue hour alone, since it includes both.
How is it calculated?
From the sun's elevation: the window when the sun is between 6° above and 6° below the horizon at your location, computed from your timezone with no location permission needed.
Is magic hour the same as twilight?
They overlap but differ: civil twilight is strictly the below-horizon part (0° to −6°), while magic hour also includes the low sun above the horizon.