Sunrise, Sunset, and Angle of Sun; There is an App for That!
Sunrise, Sunset, and Angle of Sun; There is an App for That!So you are out in the field capturing a fabulous mountain scene you discovered on your latest photo adventure trip. As the light gets lower you find it is not quite so perfect on the mountain. Instead the light appears to be a strong sidelight and leans towards backlit.
This gets you wondering just when would be the best time to return for the light you seek? There have been various methods to aid in determining the perfect day to do that like with a compass and topo map, but now there might be an app that saves you plenty of time and effort.
Invisible Bits has an app called Light Trac and it FREE. The one catch is it is only available for the iPad. But here is how it works:
There are three lines, one yellow, one red, and one green. The red line is where the sun is right now based on the date and time set. The green line is for sunset, and the yellow line is where the sun is coming from at sunrise.
What is cool is you can determine the angle the sun will come from or go anywhere and at anytime, no matter the location. Light Trac uses Google maps or satellite view and sets by default the current time.
At the bottom of the screen is a slider and here is the power of Light Trac: you can slide it to change the time of day and the lines will change as well showing the changing direction of the sun at different times of the day. 
Will this make it easy to predict which day in February will be perfect for the sunset light on Horsetail Falls, captured exquisitely by Galen Rowell and countless other photographers?
Light Trac also can tell you how long the day is, sunrise and sunset times, as well as moonrise and moonset.
Even if this is not something you see a need for or use very often, you cant beat the price of FREE. Light Trac is available off of iTunes.
Have you used Light Trac? If so please share your experience. Leave a comment.
This is really cool Charlie. I’ve been using Focalware, on my phone for quite awhile. LIghtrac requires a data connection to work which isn’t always available but it’ll still be in my bag.
Cheers
Good point Doug. I think for those in the field, they will want the 3G version and hope for a signal in the field. Thanks!
Hi Charlie and thanks for sharing this great app! I like this one better than the Photographers Ephemeris…
I’ve used this app on a commercial shoot already. Client was impressed when I pulled out my IPAD and checked the best time for lighting. I charge more when I use tools like this.
Thanks Ralph! And thanks for showing me Light Trac. If you charge more how do you go about determining that?
Ed- I have Ephemeris on my list to check out and blog about and I may get in touch when I do.
Just showing something like this to the client makes you look more “professional”. You’re using professional tools to solve problems for the client, you’re able to answer clients questions about when a shoot will occur and which lighting will be the best for the subject (a building in my latest case). My IPAD cost me money, i use it exclusively for work (my wife’s getting a second one for personal stuff), so I charge more for my services because I’m more efficient. I just add a little more to my job rate. What I charge this year is a bit more than what I charged last year. If a client questions the higher rate I just explain that I’ve added some tools that let me do a better job for them. Of course, you still need to deliver great images.
i can’t find the app at the itunes store. was it taken off?
Well, It appears to have disappeared and I am not sure where they went. If I was to take a wild guess, it has been removed as FREE to only relaunch later for some money. But that’s just a guess on my part.