LENS CAPTURE

Vol. 2 No. 4

I found a great tool for my frequent road trips; to both plot my course and provide me the weather forecast along the route. The tool, Road Trip Planner, can be found on the Weather Underground www.wunderground.com). For many years now, this site is always my first stop for weather-related information. You can find the Road Trip Planner by clicking on the Travel & Activities tab along the upper right top section of their home page. Or, you can just use the link I provided.

You start by entering in your waypoints and the date and time. Then simply click on the "Get Directions and Weather" button.

Vol. 1 No. 59

Did I get your attention with the word free?  Hope so.  You need to check out this cool application called The Photographer's Ephemeris.

e⋅phem⋅er⋅is (noun)
A table giving the coordinates of a celestial body at a number of specific times during a given period.

If you love shooting landscapes, or for that matter, enjoy taking in a good sunrise or sunset, you need to check out this software. 



Written by a british photographer living in Colorado, Stephen Trainor has crafted a wonderful photography tool.  The best time for outdoor photography needs advance planning. Scheduling your shoot around sunrise and sunset is not a huge obstacle.  The actual time for these events only changes by a few minutes each day in my neck of the woods.  And it is pretty simple to look up the timetable online.  Where this application shines is precisely depicting, not just when, but where the Sun will be in the sky at any given point specific to the desired location.  It also tracks the Moon's phase, rise, set and azimuth.

Powered by Google Maps, this tool allows you to track these celestial bodies anywhere in the world.  You can use the various features of the built-in Google Maps to zoom, view terrain, satellite imagery, hybrid maps and view the horizon.  Where will the Sun the set over the lake, or say Liberty Island?  It is pretty simple to select a location you plan on shooting from, and view exactly where the sun will be in the sky, down to the minute. 

The latest production version, 1.0.3 even supports netbooks.  It utilizes Adobe Air framework for Rich Internet Applications which provides web interactivity outside of the browser.  The installation is straightforward and the website even has a couple of video tutorials to get you up and running.  While this is a free download, the author does accept donations through his website.

Don't wait, download this now!


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