Plan your Sunrise/Sunset/Moonrise/Moonset shots

[fiznatty]

This is very cool.

http://stephentrainor.com/tools

This software allows you to find any location on earth (it's integrated with Google Maps) and learn where the sun and moon positions will be for any date and any time of day.

You can basically plan a shot months ahead of time. Figure out when the moon will line up behind a building (or thermal feature), or when the light of sunset will hit that valley just perfectly. Amazing stuff.

btw- you have to download Adobe Air to use it.

Max

[kalamitykatie]

Along the same lines, has anyone used the Helios app for iPhone/iTouch?

~Katie

[Bogo]

My Garmin GPSmap 60CSx will give you the moon and sun rise and set, plus had a graphic display for their position for any location you put in. Of course you need the lat/lon for the place.

The Naval Observatory has some web pages for calculating this data. All referenced to their atomic clocks and with all known corrections included. Their system allows entering from a list of cities or a lat/lon pair.

What do I do, I just use a spreadsheet on my ancient PDA. I formerly did astronomy so I know the equations to get a good enough answer.

[Bogo]

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/

The US Naval Observatory has added a few calculators to their set. Including celestial position calculators.

[gnpackn]

Are you coming around to my side Max?

I have been using the Nat.Geo. maps to do this for years (but not nearly as pretty of an interface). My Garmin does it too.

As for Helios I have not used it; but have heard good things from some very talented photographer friends.

Now if you mix this knowledge with http://primetimes2.com/ for wildlife then you will be onto something

Great tool thanks Max.

[Bogo]

Now if you mix this knowledge with http://primetimes2.com/ for wildlife then you will be onto something

Cool. The software and book sound interesting. Especially the book as I can do my own programming.

[DanS]

This is very cool.

http://stephentrainor.com/tools

This software allows you to find any location on earth (it's integrated with Google Maps) and learn where the sun and moon positions will be for any date and any time of day.

You can basically plan a shot months ahead of time. Figure out when the moon will line up behind a building (or thermal feature), or when the light of sunset will hit that valley just perfectly. Amazing stuff.

btw- you have to download Adobe Air to use it.

Max

Cool stuff Max,
Thanks!

[howardj]

I wish this software tool could predict when the clouds, fog, inversions were coming to town.

[clarebv]

Boy, and I wish I was younger .... so that I could make use of all this "modern" technology For me, it's LOOK OUT THE WINDOW ... and there's the moon/sun/etc. etc. etc. You guys -- do it -- take all the advantages you can ... and show us the shots

[Bogo]

Boy, and I wish I was younger .... so that I could make use of all this "modern" technology For me, it's LOOK OUT THE WINDOW ... and there's the moon/sun/etc. etc. etc. You guys -- do it -- take all the advantages you can ... and show us the shots

Pay attention to the weather. You will have to get aviation weather forecasts to figure out inversions.

NWS.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Jackson&state=WY&site=RIW&textField1=43.474&textField2=-110.764&e=0

% sky cover is one of the graphed numbers.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Jackson&state=WY&site=RIW&textField1=43.474&textField2=-110.764&e=0&FcstType=graphical

[Mike Jackson]

Thanks for posting the link. I set up all my normal hot spots around the valley and played with the features. Very cool. All the engineering is in the background leaving us artist type to use all the visuals. I'd love to be able to set a second or third big red dot on top of the Grand and Mt. Moran and let the program remember them as I zoom out to view the angles from the other set spots. Maybe the little gray targets would work that way.

Best regards,
Mike Jackson

[peppino]

Along the same lines, has anyone used the Helios app for iPhone/iTouch?

~Katie

I purchased it, but dont find it worth the money. a little hard for me to use. Maybe i just need someone to show me exactly how to use it