7 replies to this topic

[Steve Williams]

I ran across a nice little app called the Photographers Ephemeris, TPE for short, it does all kinds of cool stuff. I started thinking about what we could do with better planning for splits by knowing the sunrise and sunset paths and directions. As some of you know I've been layed up due to illness and can't get in the water for a while yet so I hope you'll forgive the surface shot but it's the best I can do. Once I saw the opportunity on the app my son and I made a quick trip at dawn to catch the sunrise in the notch of the Western mitten of Monument Valley. And yes the sky in Arizona really is that color. I used the 7D and the 16-35 L II. We set up right in the viewing area at the vistors center. It's a whole different ballgame when you know exactly where the light is going to be and when.


Let There Be Light! Sunrise in Monument Valley by Jaw's Dad, on Flickr


From the TPE website;
Key features of TPE for iOS:

- Time and direction of sunrise and sunset
- Time and direction of moonrise and moonset
- Phase of the moon and % illumination
- Times of civil, nautical and astronomical twilight
- Graphical display on a map
- Save any location you want - no fixed lists
- Automatic time zone detection for any location on earth
- Determines elevation above sea level
- View azimuth and altitude of sun/moon for any time of day/night
- Distance, bearing and elevation angle between any two points
- Find when the sun/moon will appear from behind a hill
- Compensation for atmospheric refraction
- Compensation for elevation above the horizon

It's a nice little addition to the tool set, around 8$ for the Iphone/Ipad version and there is a free version for your desktop. Something to think about the next time you go chasing stingray splits at dawn.

Have fun,
Steve

[deepsea]

Great photo and thanks for sharing about the application.

Thanks
Karen

[loftus]

Yeah; it's an awesome app.
Magnificent image Steve.

[Steve Douglas]

You'll be back in the H20 before you know it. In the meantime, great shot. You got the light perfectly centered there. Got to get myself to Arizona one of these days.
Steve

[diggy]

Beautiful Steve.. and i am sure that you will be in water sooner than you think :-)

Take care and thanks for the app details,

Diggy

[Timmoranuk]

Hi Steve, so we've nailed the easy bit - getting the sun and moon to cooperate. But do Photographers Ephemeris produce a version which the wildlife understand? Thanks for the heads up and take care and get well soon old Buddy.

[Alex_Mustard]

I've not used it for a while - but previously it was free to use as a web version - you only had to pay for it as an App.

Alex

[underwaterlove]

Wow, my first stop here, and already found this post. Very helpful. Thanks a lot. Have to try it right away.