Sunrise and Sunset table – done better

There are several good sunrise/sunset calculators available, some of which you can print out in table format. But The Photographer’s Ephemeris takes this a giant step forward. Tied to Google mapping it lets you pick any location on the globe.

As expected, it gives you sunrise/sunset, and moonrise/moonset, plus twilight times for each day (Civil, Nautical, and Astronomical for both a.m. and p.m.). But it does something FAR better, something I’ve never found before. It shows you lines that represent the angle at which the sun or moon will be visible from the point you choose. So now you can tell on what day the sun will rise or set right down that bridge you’ve been eying. Or when the buildings on main street will look like stone henge in the town of your choice.

Say for example you want to catch the sun setting behind the Lincoln Memorial shooting down the reflecting pool on the National Mall in Washington DC. You find the point on the map, (there is a handy search field) at the bottom of the screen) and adjust the date with the up/down fingers or the calendar until the rays line up the way you want them to. (Click on the thumbnail to the right to see the resulting map.)

And of course you can work it the other way as well. Are you Going somewhere interesting on July 4th? (I HOPE so!) So call up the map for that location and date. You now know not just the civil twilight and moonrise/set times, but also the angle the sun and moon will be at in relation to your position. You can start thinking about your shots and how to compose them now!

Freakin’ amazing!

The best part? The Photographer’s Ephemeris is free for PC, Mac, AND Linux(!) use. If you want it right in your pocket, it’s also available at the iPhone app store, for just $12. They say a Droid version is on the way.

It does many other things as well, including angles, elevations, and remembering locations. But you can read about all those at the site, or on the tutorials. There is no excuse left for not getting the shots of which you dream – ot at least for not finding the natural light you want. (Since weather can play a role, Wunderground weather is probably worth checking a day or two in advance ).
P.S. A tip of my hat to west coast photographer Tom Ferguson for putting me on to this outstanding tool!

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