Calculating Sun Angles/Locations

[CadrePilot]

I was contemplating a particular shoot and wanted to know the position of the sun in relation to my subject, and found this cool site:

SunCalc sun position- und sun phases calculator

Application for determining the course of the sun at a desired time and place with interactive map.

www.suncalc.org

 

[GFields]

I was contemplating a particular shoot and wanted to know the position of the sun in relation to my subject, and found this cool site:

SunCalc sun position- und sun phases calculator

Application for determining the course of the sun at a desired time and place with interactive map.

www.suncalc.org

I have been using this for a very long time. Great resource

 

[Felix le Chat]

I have been using this for a very long time. Great resource

Simple little android app named 'PHOTOTIME' is an excellent freeware ephemeris.

 

[AlaninAZ]

PhotoPills is an app that I have been using for many years…

 

[Vic Moss]

I've been using The Photographer's Ephemeris for years. I have the app on my iPhone, and they have a website.

Photo Ephemeris

Photo Ephemeris helps you plan outdoor photography in natural light. See how the light will fall on the land, day or night, for any location on earth.

photoephemeris.com

 

[bullHunter_3537]

There is an Apple app called “Sunrays” that will show you the position of the sun throughout the day at every hour of daylight. Sorry, I had to crop my Apple screenshot to get it attached to my response.

 

[HozroHorizons]

I was contemplating a particular shoot and wanted to know the position of the sun in relation to my subject, and found this cool site:

SunCalc sun position- und sun phases calculator

Application for determining the course of the sun at a desired time and place with interactive map.

www.suncalc.org

Thanks for that link! Another good app used by many photographers for checking sun/moon angles at any location/time is TPE (The Photographer's Ephemeris). You can find it for IOS or Android.

 

[JavaJack]

I was contemplating a particular shoot and wanted to know the position of the sun in relation to my subject, and found this cool site:

SunCalc sun position- und sun phases calculator

Application for determining the course of the sun at a desired time and place with interactive map.

www.suncalc.org

I have used Sun surveyor on my phone for years. You can view this on a map and slide the time to sunrise or sunset and see exactly where this will happen and added bonus is the moon for night photography, which I do a lot of. Also there is live view for looking at the scene in front of you while you stand there and see where the sun will rise or set. This is one of my most important tools for photography.

 

[Illuminata Photo]

Another vote here for The Photographer's Ephemeris - love it!

 

[Dale D]

I was contemplating a particular shoot and wanted to know the position of the sun in relation to my subject, and found this cool site:

SunCalc sun position- und sun phases calculator

Application for determining the course of the sun at a desired time and place with interactive map.

www.suncalc.org

Cadre Pilot:

I would imagine that you own the PHOTO PILLS app? Photo Pills has positions of the sun, moon, Milky Way, etc. under its virtual image.

Dale
Miami

 

[CadrePilot]

Cadre Pilot:

I would imagine that you own the PHOTO PILLS app? Photo Pills has positions of the sun, moon, Milky Way, etc. under its virtual image.

Dale
Miami

Need to check it out.

 

[Dale D]

Need to check it out.

Cadre Pilot:
If you are a photographer ( not just drones) the Photo Pills app (about$9.99) is probably the most valuable tool a photographer can own. The learning curve is a bit steep but there are tons of lessons by the inventor. Go to the App Store and enter Photo Pills. Watch the video too. It's the most ingenious invention I have ever seen. Well worth the money and the learning curve.
www.photopills.com

 

[CadrePilot]

Cadre Pilot:
If you are a photographer ( not just drones)....
www.photopills.com

I haven't considered myself a photographer since the 35mm film days. ;-)

 

[Dale D]

I haven't considered myself a photographer since the 35mm film days. ;-)

The history of digital photography began in the 1950s.

 

[mavictk]

I recently have gotten into taking pictures along the shoreline of the lagoon I live near. There is a pollution problem and I like to shoot down into the water to see if I can see through the water. I recently acquired a polarized lens, and that really helps me see down through the water. Now for my question.
Given all the discussion about sunlight and angles, and the fact that my polarized lens has an adjustment on it is there any difference between using the polarized lens at high noon pointing straight down very at say 7 AM or 7 PM when obviously the lights coming from a different direction. Does the polarized lens need to be adjusted depending on the angle of the light ?

 

[EssenYVR]

Given all the discussion about sunlight and angles, and the fact that my polarized lens has an adjustment on it is there any difference between using the polarized lens at high noon pointing straight down very at say 7 AM or 7 PM when obviously the lights coming from a different direction. Does the polarized lens need to be adjusted depending on the angle of the light ?

I'm going to guess that you're not shooting at an angle where you're seeing the reflection of the sun itself in the water, but rather the sky reflection. The best polarizer in the world probably isn't going to be enough to block out a reflection of the sun.

For eliminating reflections of the sky, the angle that matters the most is the angle between the camera and the surface of the water. I believe the optimum angle is around 30 to 45 degrees, but you can see for yourself if you point the camera at the water at a downward angle of about 45 degrees, rotate the filter to eliminate as much reflection as possible, then tilt the camera from pointing straight at the horizontal and then lowering slowly to point straight down, observing how much of the sky reflections are eliminated as you do so.

 

[jephoto]

I was contemplating a particular shoot and wanted to know the position of the sun in relation to my subject, and found this cool site:

SunCalc sun position- und sun phases calculator

Application for determining the course of the sun at a desired time and place with interactive map.

www.suncalc.org

Nice. Has a lot of the basic info I get from a paid App called TPE- The Photographer’s Ephemeris- i’ve been using for a number of years. It’s or at least it used to be $9.95 but it’s been worth it as you can do a visual search drop a pin on a map or a plug-in location and it gives you all this information and more including being able to plug-in, the height of the camera location and the height of objects you’re trying to see in the distance and see whether the geography in between wow line of sight. Etc. etc.
But this website is free and it gives you really good information on sunrise, sunset, angles of each, and angles of the sun at a given time and the moon as well pretty cool…