Planning light for Chicago, United States
Morning golden hour
What is LightWindow
Plan your shoot around the light, before you leave the house
LightWindow tells you when the good light happens and where it comes from. Pick a city and it lays out the day in order: morning blue hour, sunrise, golden hour, solar noon, then the same windows in reverse as the sun goes down. Every time is shown in the local clock, so you know exactly when to be in position.
The cards above also carry a compass direction for sunrise, sunset and each golden and blue hour window. That tells you which way the light will fall, so you can scout an angle or a backdrop ahead of time instead of guessing once you arrive.
Tools for Chicago
Shooting the light in Chicago
Chicago’s defining feature is a water horizon to the east. Lake Michigan gives the city ocean-grade sunrises - sun climbing straight out of open water - and the lakefront parks and beaches all face it. Evening reverses the game: the skyline catches warm light from the west while the lake behind it goes soft and pastel.
The street grid runs true east-west, so around each equinox - late March and late September - the rising and setting sun aligns with the streets. Chicagohenge frames the sun in steel canyons, best on the downtown bridges.
Where photographers go
Adler Planetarium peninsula
The full skyline across the water at dawn, frontlit as the sun climbs out of the lake behind you.
North Avenue Beach
Skyline to the southwest over sand and water; strong at both golden hours.
Kinzie Street Bridge
A prime Chicagohenge sightline down the river-canyon streets at the equinoxes.
Montrose Point
A quieter lakefront dawn, with skyline, harbor and migrating birds in season.
