Fabulous free program for landscape photographers

[LeeR]

I do a lot of landscape photography and for that reason I spend a good deal of time watching what is going on in the sky; particularly what the sun and moon are doing at any given time. For that reason I was excited to learn about a new and free program called "The Photographer's Ephemeris." (Ephemeris is an old Greek word for a kind of celestial almanac.) This program will give you the position of the sun and moon, as well as rise and set times, for any given location on any given date. Enter the location you are interested in, advance to the date you will be there, and it will show you where in the sky the sun will come up, where the moon will be, how full the moon will be, and which direction the light will be coming from. In the case of mountains, you can tell when the sun or moon will rise above a certain location in relation to where you intend to be standing. Wonderful information if you are serious about getting great landscape shots. Now if we could just get a sight that would tell us what the weather will be like with this kind of accuracy!
If you download this, be sure to watch the two videos that explain how to use the program. I had a bit of trouble with the program when I first downloaded it, but I found the author to be quite helpful- he's a photographer himself.

[LenDog]

Originally Posted by LeeR

Now if we could just get a sight that would tell us what the weather will be like with this kind of accuracy!

So true. TPE is a great program that can save a lot of time in planning Landscape, architecture, sunrise, or sunset photos. And it is free.

[milosh]

It is a great program, I also use it! The best thing is that it incorporates Google Maps window, so you can turn on satellite imagery and find the exact spot you plan to be standing on.

[Quo Fan]

I loaded it onto my laptop before I went to Hawaii, and discovered when to shoot Makapu'u Lighthouse at sunrise. I also discovered that I can't shoot the 2 other lighthouses on Oahu at sunrise, they have to be shot at sunset.

[Rolling Stone]

Thought I may have read that this was an iphone app as well. Could be wrong, though.

[Desert Rose]

I love this program. I've been using it for a while and find it quite useful.

Here's a recent DPS article:

http://digital-photography-school.co...er’s-ephemeris

Yes, there is iphone app available.