Golden Hour Calendar for Manchester
Golden hour and blue hour times for Manchester, every day of the year. Sunrise, sunset, and the exact light windows — calculated live, BST included.
Every photographer in this city plans around the same two windows, and both move by a couple of minutes a day. This is the whole year in one place: golden hour and blue hour times for Manchester, morning and evening, for any date you like.
Nothing here is a lookup table that goes stale — the times are calculated in your browser for Manchester’s exact coordinates (53.48°N, 2.24°W), so the calendar works for next year and the year after, and British Summer Time is applied automatically on the correct changeover dates.
Today in Manchester
The calendar
| Date | Blue hourdawn | Sunrise | Golden hourmorning | Golden hourevening | Sunset | Blue hourdusk | Goldentotal |
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All times are local Manchester time with British Summer Time applied automatically. Golden hour is taken as the sun between the horizon and 6° above it; blue hour as 6° below the horizon before sunrise and 4° below after sunset. Times are calculated, not measured — cloud, terrain and buildings will shift what you actually get by a few minutes.
Golden hour through the year
Here is the thing most photographers get backwards: the darkest months have the longest golden hour. Around both solstices the sun crosses the horizon at a shallow angle and takes its time passing through the golden-hour band; near the equinoxes it cuts down steeply and the window slams shut. So December gives you more usable golden light per day than June does — you just have to be in position by mid-afternoon. The bars are total daily golden hour, morning plus evening, averaged per month.
Where to shoot this light
Golden hour suits west-facing open spaces and warm stone — Albert Square, Castlefield and the Ordsall brick. Blue hour suits water and lit architecture: the Castlefield Viaduct, Deansgate Locks, Greengate Square and MediaCityUK.
Our golden hour guide and blue hour guide cover the locations in detail, and the tripod guide covers what you need once exposures get long. You can also plan a route on the map or filter every spot by best light.