Photography

Daily light dial#

Daylight, twilight, golden and blue hours around a day.

The ring is a 24-hour clock of the day. Midnight is at the bottom; the day runs clockwise through 06 on the left, noon at the top and 18 on the right, back to midnight. Small marks are hours, longer marks every six hours.

The thick ring shows the light the Sun gives at each moment, from the darkest night to full daylight. Golden and blue hour are drawn on top of the twilight they belong to, so you can see at a glance when the good light starts and how long it lasts.

Today it shows the golden or blue hour in progress and how long is left, or the next one and how long until it starts (tomorrow morning's, once this evening's blue hour is over). The countdown updates every minute.

On another day it shows that evening's golden hour: when it starts, when it ends and how long it lasts. Near the poles, where the Sun may never set or never rise, it says so instead.

Under the dial: sunrise, solar noon (when the Sun is highest and due south, or due north in the southern hemisphere) and sunset.

Golden and blue hours#

Morning and evening photography windows.

The exact start and end of each window, morning and evening, with its length. The windows are defined by the Sun's height, not by the clock, so they are short near the equator (around 20 to 30 minutes) and long at high latitudes, where the Sun sets at a shallow angle.

Morning: blue hour comes first, then golden hour. Evening: golden hour, then blue hour. The light changes fast near the boundaries; arrive early.

Twilight#

Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight.

The three stages of twilight. Begins is when morning twilight starts, ends is when evening twilight is over. Civil twilight is bright enough to work without lights; nautical twilight is right for star trails over a still-visible horizon; after astronomical twilight the sky is fully dark for the Milky Way.

A dash means the Sun doesn't sink that far on this date, as on summer nights at high latitudes.

The Sun#

Sunrise, sunset and the Sun’s position.

The compass is drawn with north at the top, as on a map. It shows where the Sun rises and sets, the stretch of horizon it travels along by day, and where it is now. Use it to plan backlight, sun stars and flare, or to find which side of a building will be lit.

Directions are compass bearings from true north (0° north, 90° east, 180° south, 270° west), with the nearest of the 16 compass points. Height is degrees above the horizon.

The Moon#

Moonrise, moonset, phase and position.

The drawing shows the Moon as it looks on this date, with its phase, the share of the disc that is lit, and its age in days since new Moon. A full Moon lights landscapes for long exposures; a new Moon leaves the sky dark for stars.

Moonrise and moonset come with their compass directions, so you can line the Moon up with a landmark. Upper transit is when it crosses your meridian, with its height at that moment. The Moon's changing declination means its exact highest point can occur a little earlier or later. Distance is from the centre of the Earth; a closer Moon looks slightly larger.

Shadow calculator#

Enter an object’s height to calculate its shadow.

Enter the height of a person, tree or building to see how long its shadow is with the Sun at its current height, and which way it points. The shadow length is the height divided by the tangent of the Sun's height, on flat, level ground.

Below about 5° the shadow grows very long and is sensitive to terrain; the sketch then cuts it off with an arrow. With the Sun below the horizon there is no shadow.

Sky map#

Explore the Sun and Moon across the selected day.

Scrub through the selected local day to explore the Sun and Moon. The map looks upward with north at the top and east on the right: the outer circle is the horizon, the centre is the zenith, and the inner circles mark 30° and 60° altitude. Bearings run clockwise from true north (0°), through east (90°), south (180°) and west (270°).

Gold shows the Sun and a dashed blue path shows the Moon. Paths are sampled across the whole day, approximately every ten minutes. Solid markers are above the geometric horizon; hollow markers sit on the rim when below it. Numeric positions are calculated at the exact scrubber time, independently of the sampled paths. This is a Sun-and-Moon planning map; terrain and stars are not plotted. Times are the chosen place's local time, including daylight-saving changes.

AR compass#

Choose the Sun or Moon and open its camera tracker.

Choose Sun or Moon, then open AR to place that target and its path over the camera view. It uses the selected date and time; standalone AR and time-lapse blocks also offer a time slider, so a future target is a prediction rather than the body's current position. The card's bearing scale is a direction preview, not a live camera image. Negative altitude means the target is below the horizon.

AR requires a supported physical phone and camera permission. Magnetic interference, compass calibration and tracking drift can shift the overlay; check alignment against a known landmark. Never look directly at the Sun through a camera viewfinder or optical equipment.

Time-lapse planner#

Calculate frames, intervals and playback duration.

The sky map's time sets the capture start. Choose capture duration, interval between frame starts, exposure and output frame rate. A frame is taken immediately at the start, then at each interval through the end of the capture window. Frame count is floor(duration ÷ interval) + 1. Playback length is frame count ÷ output frame rate; speed-up is interval × output frame rate.

The last-frame value is the start of the final exposure, which can continue beyond the capture window. Dates roll over automatically for overnight plans. Durations are elapsed minutes even when the clocks change. An exposure equal to or longer than the interval is flagged; shorter exposures still need enough spare time for your camera's processing and storage. The timing diagram shows one start-to-start interval to scale: gold is the exposure, the muted segment is the remaining gap, and the dashed line marks the next shot. If the exposure runs past that line, the overrun is coral. The gap is interval minus exposure; it must accommodate camera processing and storage. This planner does not control or record with your camera.