The Photographer’s Ephemeris – an essential programme for the outdoor photographer
As it says on the website, this app is ‘All about the light’. If you are taking a shot outdoors and you want to know details of the sunrise/sunset, state of the moon or any other significant information about the Milky Way, this is your app!
I like the app because it is
- A tailored app, not overly complicated
- Visual
- Free
- Useable on all my devices
- Designed for photographers using natural light
- A provider of longitude/latitude information and sunrise/sunset times
- A predictor of expected asteroids and other key celestial events
As you can imagine, this app is useful for all manner of photography including wildlife, architecture, weddings and natural light portraits, but it would be especially useful for those interested in night-time and astrophotography. As this requires specialist equipment it is not an area I have explored but, with information on starlight, as well as sunlight and moonlight, this app would be very helpful to the budding night-time photographer.
So how do I use it?
For planning purposes! In winter we might have 6 hours of daylight, in summer 14. If I am planning to photograph something from the top of Ben Nevis when I am there on holiday in 3 months’ time, the app will tell me all about the light conditions connected to the sun/moon/stars in the location I pinpoint. I can think about clothes to wear, supplies to bring and what time of day I will aim to take my photograph. The Ephemeris app can predict these features years in advance.
Its uses are wider even than photography. My son-in-law has a telescope and can use this app to identify, for example, an upcoming meteor shower. This means he knows when his view of the night sky will be the most interesting.
As National Geographic says on the TPE website:
‘Head and shoulders above the crowd is The Photographer’s Ephemeris. Odd name, great app.” *
The website Photoephemeris.com is well worth further exploration.
* For those intrigued by the name, ephemeris has a similar root to the better known ‘ephemera’. The ephemeris dictionary definition is ‘a table or data file giving the calculated positions of a celestial object at regular intervals throughout a period.’
Mark