The Photographer's Ephemeris

davholla · Jun 12, 2018

Does anyone use this? If so what for? I know that June in the UK is not such a great time to start as sunrise is so early, but I want to use it this summer when I go on holiday.

dxqcanada · Jun 12, 2018

Hmm, never used it. I just use the light as I find it ... though for areas I frequently visit, I know what the light is going to be like ... or you just wade into the water like some crazy photographers do.

TCampbell · Jun 12, 2018

I've used it. I've also used SunSurveyor and PhotoPills. They're all similar (technically they each do slightly different things... but they have a lot of overlap).

The point of "The Photographer's Ephemeris" is to help you determine WHERE to put your tripod if you want to capture an object (typically this would be a landscape shot) with the Sun... or Moon... or Milky Way... positioned in a specific spot. E.g. if you wanted to see the moon rise over some mountain... or some town... it'll help you determine exactly where you need to be... and when.

A month or so back, a local photographer wanted to capture the sun rising behind the dome of a local conservatory (to make it look like the conservatory was glowing). I used the app to determine the price time and spot where you'd need to stand to get the shot. I also used it to work out the back-up dates & times to get the same shot if the primary date selected happened to be cloudy and it needed to be rescheduled.

TPE and SunSurveyor both do the Sun & Moon. PhotoPills also does the Milky Way.

AlanKlein · Jun 12, 2018

I used in on a trip to the southwest USA on my Galaxy 7 (Android). I used it to check where the sun was at sunrise and sunset and during the day. You can set the date to check in advance of getting there or watch the location by advancing the time during a particular day. They have screen selection showing road views, topographic, satellite, etc. Although I didn't use these features, you can check locations of sun at different elevations from where you're shooting. Sunrise and sunset times are at the horizon. ELevated feature don;t follow those exactly so this feature could be important to you. You can also check similar settings for the moon. It's only a few dollars. Not sure if you can test it out for free on your smartphone but it may be available on your desktop for free.

Dave Colangelo · Jun 17, 2018

I use the desktop one every once in a while to figure out good spots to set up or to figure out the right time to get a shot I have in mind. I have been using it recently to figure out the best to capture a certain composure of a light house I often visit. Its a nice tool and the interface is well done. My use of it is almost exclusively for landscape related stuff. When shooting people/portraits or closer up stuff I don't use it as I can generally just move the subject.