Calculating where the sun will be for a shoot?

<p>I recently was challenged with the task of shooting a house whilst the sun was blaring at me - above the house. I had to move quite close to the house so that the sun was hidden behind the house's roof...it was not good! I have not been shoting buildings for very long so I havnt thought about the sun's position too much. Are there any tools online, or any other method, where you can figure out what direction the sun will be at a partiular time and location?<br>

<br />So eg if Im at a certain location and shooting in a south eastern direction, how can I determine if the sun will be behind me?<br /> :/</p>

<p>Online <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/">Sun and Moon Calculator</a></p>

<p>Download <a href="http://photoephemeris.com/">The Photographer's Ephemeris</a> for smart phone or computer.</p>

<p>I'll second the recommendation for The Photographer's Ephemeris.</p>

<p>15 degrees an hour is what I estimate. It's not perfect; but, it'll get you through the day if you work outside. From point of sunrise to point of sunset the sun travels in an arc: if that arc is 180 degrees; the sun will travel about 15 degrees an hour in a 12 hour day. Day length will vary, but it often won't be enough to bother much. </p>

<p>If you know where the sun rises and where the sun sets, relative to your photo location; then, that'll often be enough to get you halfway through guessing where the shadows will fall. 15 degrees an hour against the arc.</p>

<p>I would entirely and heartily endorse the recommendation of <em>The Photographer's Ephemeris</em>. It will graphically show you where and when the sun rises and sets (ditto moon). It is particularly useful where I live in the mountains, as it also calculates local elevations, so you are not stuck with a theoretical horizon.</p>

<p>An old trick to estimate sunset which I've used but varies by longitude is holding your hand out at arm's length to see how many finger widths you can put between the sun and the horizon. Each finger represents 15 minutes. (This trick probably only works at Scouts Headquarters!)</p>

Taking photos of houses in bright sunlight is not always a good idea. I notice on HGTV that the "before" photos of a house are taken in bright sunlight with hard shadows. The "after" photos are taken in the evening with soft lighting all around. But, that is just a coincidence, I suppose ...

<p>Do you have accurate information on the direction which the property faces before you go there? If not, you might find that knowing where the sun should be precisely is of little real help. Probably the best you'll get from an owner is a rough indication that the property faces north, south, east or west, and then you don't need a piece of software to tell you that if the property is west-facing then it might not be very useful to turn up on a bright morning. </p>

<p>Equally there are some thoughts in other replies here that if I were you I'd think about. First, is your ideal light hard sunlight coming from high in a clear blue sky, or do you want a softer light from overcast or early/late conditions. Second do you prefer your light to be flat onto buildings, or maybe a slightly angled sidelight. </p>

<p>If you've got a Android or Apple phone or tablet the Lighttrac ap gives you all you need anytime, anywhere. Gives you the sunrise and sunset, and the position of the sun all day long, all year long. Good deal at $5.</p>

<p>You can use Google Earth or Bing maps to give a very photorealistic bird's eyeview of a location if you know the address. Free and pretty complete coverage for most areas in the US and a good part of the world.<br>

Both options show compass orientation.<br>

Bing produces great low angle views of locales.<br>

Google also gives Street Views, grid coordinates, altitude, etc.<br>

Below is an example of what you can conjure up (that's where I work).<br>

Combine this with other software mentioned by others and you'll have <strong>deja vu</strong> all over again when you arrive at the job site.<br>

:o)<br>

Jim</p><div></div>

<p>All the "apps" are useless if you don't know in advance the direction the building faces. Google maps or Bing, or perhaps an old-fashioned street map is all you need, or a rough description from the owner if the building gets morning, mid-day or afternoon sun. The precise azimuth of the sun location at a specific time (which is what these apps give you) is usually unimportant and useless if you don't know the first piece of information. Then there is always the odd object that casts a shadow you don't want. In this case, these apps could be of use to figure out the best time to take the shot. </p>

<p>stellarium.org<br>

"Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope."</p>

<p>Peter, the lighttrac ap I referenced above shows all the data I referenced superimposed on top of Google maps. I don't find it useless.</p>

If you have an iPhone, iPad or Android device, there is Sun Seeker.

 

http://www.ozpda.com/sunseeker_iphone.php

 

I have it on my iPad & iPhone, and It works very well.. You can see your current location, or navigate to a different one.

Best feature, I find, is the ability to see the suns path overlaid on the satellite view map.

<p>When I was a boy scout we were taught the following method of using a watch to find direction. When the sun is out, hold the watch level with the hour hand pointing at the sun (i.e. shadows fall toward the base of the hour hand). Halfway between the hour hand and 12 o'clock is south.</p>

<p>If you are on site and know which way south is, you can reverse this method to know where the sun will be at any given hour of the day. Pick a time, figure half way between that and noon, and point that halfway mark of your watch dial south. The hour hand points to where the sun will be at that time. Of course, it also works if you aren't there but have a map.</p>

<p>Remember to adjust from daylight to standard time first.</p>

 

<p>The Photographers Ephemeris confuses the f outta me... XD The yellow line is "Sunrise", but in what way is it depicting sunrise? Is it saying that at sunrise if Im looking in the direction of that line, Im looking at the sun? What if I want to calculate the suns position when it isnt surise?<br>

Arrrgh!</p>

<p>[[What if I want to calculate the suns position when it isnt surise?]]</p>

<p>On the desktop app, you open the details of an individual day and move the slider through the 24H period for both moon and sun locations. </p>

 

<p>For Android, there's Sun Locator (<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.genewarrior.sunlocator.lite">Link to Google Play</a>), which also shows the Moon location<br>

It's very easy to use, has a lot of information, an interactive map and an Augmented Reality feature that overlays the sun over your camera view.<br>

<img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-smH8g74UE7A/WBOpc6JV4VI/AAAAAAAAACg/ZSG0TlaQzzIHML1bwIcOxJKj3k8vUhiBACK4B/s400/cameraview.png" alt="" width="400" height="216" /><br>

<img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uRw2IFe4Wdc/WBeRPHQCuTI/AAAAAAAAAEE/za7lB-Ag8vktKW7PJVYGh6sER7advhePACK4B/s640/mapview_1.png" alt="" width="640" height="346" /></p>