For landscape photographers - free sunrise and sunset position chart

[muddy250]

Hi All,

Looking for a guide to sunrise and sunset times today I found a great site which is very useful to landscape photographers in pre-planning a shot or anyone making use of natural light and wanting to know where the sun will be at dawn and dusk:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...&afl=-12&day=1

You can enter your own location and get the times and position of sunrise and set for any day you like. I had planned to buy a ready made chart but finding this site and being too impatient to wait, I made my own using their data. It's based on the centre of England so won't be very far away for anywhere in the UK and you can download them free from my blog site here:

http://beakster.jot.com/WikiHome/Sun

There are 3 sizes, Sun CC (credit card) Sun 100, 100mm wide and Sun 120, 120mm wide in case you need a bigger version to make it easier to see.


best

Chris

[dlaf]

Wow - this looks really cool! If only I hadn't destroyed so many brain cells in my 20s.

I wonder if Google Maps / Earth has anything like this where you could pinpoint a location and they could visually show when way the sun was coming from. Where I live I'm not sure if there is a road that runs directly E/W or N/S so I never know what direction I'm facing.

I will keep looking at your links to see what can seep into my head. Thanks!

[PhotoNewt]

If you have a Windows Mobile device check this application called Ephemeris; gives you similar information and then some and is FREE!

[rediguana]

Handheld GPS units are also very useful, quite a few units have sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset.

[muddy250]

Yep, I have 2 handheld gps's but they don't point out where the sun will pop up or sink in a weeks time which is what I need to plan for future shoots.
Chris

[Aaron Koolen]

Originally Posted by dlaf

I wonder if Google Maps / Earth has anything like this where you could pinpoint a location and they could visually show when way the sun was coming from. Where I live I'm not sure if there is a road that runs directly E/W or N/S so I never know what direction I'm facing.

I haven't found anything in the Google apps that gives precise locations, but in Google Earth you can turn on on the display of the Sun. I then focus on a high area around where I want to shoot, move the timeline back and forward and you can see where the sun first hits (Or disappears from) the side of a hill. It gives an approximate location so you can see where to head to and shoot.

[muddy250]

http://www.takapajula.net/suncalc2.php

drag to your location, set the date and submit.