North England Sunset/Sunrise tracking..?

Dashing

Dashing

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Richard
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Hi!

I'm not sure if I'm being really naive or really stupid however tonight's sunset has got me wishing that I was in a good location to actually take some shots.

Is there any way to actually plan for such events? Do I need to take an active interest in weather reports..? Or is there an app/multiple apps that can help?

Thanks [emoji4]
 
Photographers ephemeris is a good simple app but is paid for. Also Photo Pills is good for planning but there are loads of sunrise/sunset time apps.
 
TPE is you're friend! I use it everyday for location storing and planning! It's my landscape bible
 
I'll be honest, I've seen TPE mentioned on the forum a lot but never actually known what it is.

Sounds like it's just what I'm looking for.

Thanks guys.
 
Dashing said:
I'll be honest, I've seen TPE mentioned on the forum a lot but never actually known what it is.

Sounds like it's just what I'm looking for.

Thanks guys.
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Apart from buying the camera it's the best £6 I've ever spent
 
There's a 3D version for 20 quid in a bundle with the 8 pound regular app.

Worth the extra money for the 3D?
 
I started watching this guy too. Really good vids and has inspired me to try some wild camping and landscape photography
 
Great link, just watched a couple of his vids and inspirational stuff. Had to subscribe. I've been using Golden Hour, an android app, to track sunrise/sunset times and then hoping I get lucky when I turn up to a location, but TPE looks way more in detail though.
 
lee hayes said:
I started watching this guy too. Really good vids and has inspired me to try some wild camping and landscape photography
Click to expand...

I was talking to the other half about dusting our tent off after watching some of his videos. Haha.
 
You can try sunsetwx.com, but I find it's frequently broken!
 
TPE is good for seeing the position of sunrise/sunset at a given location but it won't predict the weather, you need too look at weather apps as well. No point diving miles for grey skies.
 
There's an app called Exsate Golden Hour, which attempts to make a general guess of whether the sky will glow red based on level of cloud. You can set your own conditions to be met. I wouldn't say it's particularly accurate. The biggest thing it misses though is the height of the clouds, and clouds elsewhere as described in above video. Perhaps there's a way to make an app to automate Thomas Heaton's guess in a similar way to Exsate that would make it more accurate.

Another app called "clear outside" will tell you the amount of cloud and give percentage cover for the various heights.
 
There's another app I use on Android called Sun Position app, which is good to know where the sunrise and sunset is going to be.
I also use a weather app by the Norwegian weather service called YR (it does cover all locations). This is really good for showing the level of cloud cover.
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I've seen that Thomas Heaton video too. I plan on trying SkippySky at some point soon.
 
TPE for me. I'd used it for a while as the free web based service and went for the paid for app (the only one I've paid for!) when I got an Android device.
 
Agree about TPE; it is excellent.

I also suggest looking at the relevant OS map. For landscape shots the 1:50000 is more than adequate. I'm still pretty much old school and like paper maps but the OS option on Bing Maps is great for getting an idea of a location without, or before, shelling out on the paper version, though the paper one does cover 40x40 km.

Checking the weather forecast, or looking at how the weather is developing, is also essential. Sometimes what looks like the possibility of a great sunset fizzles out completely and vice versa but if the forecast indicates poor weather for the end of the day then staying home might be the best option.

Such are the joys of landscape photography.

Dave
 
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