Friday, August 7, 2009

The Photographer's Ephemeris - BETA

I simply cannot remain quiet anymore. I must sing it to the world. One of the best pieces of software living on my computer these days is "The Photographer's Ephemeris." Stephen Trainor offers the Ephemeris for free, and it is a Beta version. i.e. "THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND." Take it from me, it works great and is a simple joy to use.

From Stephen's website:
  • Landscape photographers typically wish to plan their shoots around the times of sunrise/sunset or twilight, or alternatively when the moon is in a particular place in a particular phase.
  • While times of sunrise etc. are readily available on various sites on the internet (direction of sunrise etc. less so, but still readily found), there are fewer programs available which combine such information with a topographical map allowing the photographer to match the astronomical to the location.
  • A typical use might be to determine when the sun will set along the axis of a mountain valley, or when a full moon rise will rise across a lake.
  • The application uses Google Maps providing users the ability to select a location and determine the time and azimuth of sunrise or sunset for a given date or dates.
  • The software displays the combination of the key data together with a topographical map, courtesy of Google, in one program for either Windows or Mac.
I use it daily and cannot imagine going back to the days of compiling this information myself.
Thank you Stephen! Click here to visit his website and download the program. Please support his project!
Adam