Useful Programme for Outdoor Photographers

I have just downloaded the Photographers Ephemeris which was featured in last weeks Amateur Photographer Mag . A free prog which gives Sunrise and Sunset positions for any day past or present plus sun elevation, Shadows etc for any location using Google Mapslink There are a couple of Tutorials on the webpage plus a free downloadable Adobe Air which is needed to run the programme.
Regards - Pete

Someone posted a link to this a while back. It is a great program, I often use it but rarely get out of bed early enough...

K.

That`s a real shame, I thought Google Maps covered the whole of U.K?
Regards - Pete

Actually i just tried it on several locations from Llantwit Major to Barry Docks and it works perfectly. Did you install the Adobe Air first?

Regards - Pete

I've just downloaded it. Very nice. Even tells me my house is at sea level .

Now to remember to get up early enough to make use of it. Maybe I'll wait until the clocks go forward .

I am surprised it doesn't work for you Gareth. It seems to cover South Wales very well.

That looks very useful indeed. Would be brilliant as an iPhone app.

edit: Sure enough, there's an app for that!

Not knowing the word 'Ephemeris' just typed it into App Store search, and whilst there are a lot of astronomers ones there, very quickly found Sunlight Tracker for photographers. Looks good so already downloaded it for a trip to Scotland in May!

Thanks for the heads up!

It works fine on hybrid Gareth, but no, you can't zoom right in with just the map. You can't zoom in to that extent on my house either with terrain. I'm not sure that you need to though.
If you need that zoom then you must use hybrid, satellite or map, not terrain.

For people that have a GPS (not sure about in car models, I'm referring here to hand-helds etc), the latter often have this feature built-in.

Hi Gareth,

It sounds like you were trying to zoom in a bit too much there!
I have not had a lot of time to play with all of the tools yet, When i first opened the programme the red balloon was over some back of beyond place,So all i did was zoom out to a size that showed where the UK was and moved the balloon over to it. Then just zoomed back in to the area`s that i was interested in getting Sunset pic`s at.The lines change angle as you move the balloon or change time or date. Of course there is so much more than that with this programme, Only that i have not had the time to try it all yet! I only found it half an hour before i posted it here!
I was photographing some Abseilers near south stack Lighthouse last night, If the sun had appeared, I knew that i was in the perfect position to get a Sunset shot! As it was i used Video mode until well after dark! Still i won`t ever get myself into the wrong position for a sunset like i have in the past! Several times i had been at a location and witnessed a stunning sunset but found it did not set in the position that i had imagined. I can check out all of my favourite haunts and work out the best times of year to get the angles that i want.

Regards - Pete

Downloaded the app last night and quickly checked out where I would need to stand to catch the sunrise coming up behind Coquet Island, at the appointed hour this morning my camera bag packed I looked out of the window, thick cloud cover every where, can't win them all That aside this is a great idea and a very useful program.

I have to admit to having used sunrise calcs before, especially when planning photographic opportunities around A2 meets - if I know where the sun is coming from, then I can work out where to stand to avoid shooting into the sunlight.

Bret

I've used this for a while now, very useful. Combined with the newly updated Google "streetview" it's possible to scout some locations here from my armchair !!

Simon