How useful is this in the field on an iPhone? For example, if you are at a location in the mountains without a data signal, can you plot a bearing for the sunrise for the next day? I'm assuming you can't since you would need Google maps. Can you mark that location and get the bearing later when you have a data signal? Any other useful info about using it in the field?
PS: If you don't know what the Photographer's Ephemeris is, it's a free app for a computer and a $9 app for an iPhone that uses Google maps to find a location and then using colored lines gives you the angles (bearings, or azimuth) and times of sun and moon rise and set. So the night before you could plan your shoot by picking the location of your tripod and then the direction of your shot and you could see exactly where on a Google map the sun/moon will rise or set.
http://photoephemeris.com/videos
Posted by Jared Atencio on March 18, 2011 at 4:09 PM
Good questions Tony. I use TPE when researching/planning at home ahead of time, but haven't yet pulled the trigger on the app for my iphone for use in the field and am curious to this info as well. I don't think I've come close to using TPE to it's full potential, but it has been helpful for some very targeted shots.
You may post this to the RMNP forum as well-I know a handful of people there use TPE and have most likely encountered the no cell signal problem. I'd be curious to know what you find out.
Thanks Sandy for your attempt to answer my question! However, there is no indication from the post that he made his calculations in the field. The Ephemeris does a stellar job at this kind of thing when you can connect to Google maps on a computer. For example, in the comfort of my living room I just zeroed in on Kirby Cove in the Marin headlands and looked at all of the trajectories of the full moons for the next four months and determined when the moonrise would be south enough to rise over the Golden Gate Bridge. Amazing!!
I have just started experimenting with photography that includes the moon, and I use the The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) extensively in combination with the "Heavenly_Opportunity" software. Before leaving on a photo trip, I print out the rising/setting times and azimuths (compass directions) for the sun and the moon. (In Windows 7 I use the "Snip" tool for the TPE data.) Heavenly_Opportunity gives me the additional data for angle of the moon above the horizon and lets me search for particular compass directions for future photos--a quicker way to do what Tony described. There are links below to results so far. --- John
Discussion
4 repliesPS: If you don't know what the Photographer's Ephemeris is, it's a free app for a computer and a $9 app for an iPhone that uses Google maps to find a location and then using colored lines gives you the angles (bearings, or azimuth) and times of sun and moon rise and set. So the night before you could plan your shoot by picking the location of your tripod and then the direction of your shot and you could see exactly where on a Google map the sun/moon will rise or set.
http://photoephemeris.com/videos
You may post this to the RMNP forum as well-I know a handful of people there use TPE and have most likely encountered the no cell signal problem. I'd be curious to know what you find out.
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=169268&CGISESSID=e982b143d1db458341c0dc54e505ee38&u=26474
Sandy
http://cubit.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/smProject200912310339/1201058884_uLJpd-XL.jpg
http://cubit.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/DSC0327-crop/1170302193_o3WNC-XL-1.jpg