Using google earth for outdoor photography.

[ninefivepm]

Just realized the importance of the free google earth for outdoor photography and to understand the position of the sun at any location.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJLkKI2Rjwo&feature=plcp

[Donald]

Google Earth is a good tool for planning shoots.

The Photographer's Ephemeris is, I think, used by a lot of us in terms of studying sunrise and sunset, and moonrise and moonset. I do a lot of my planning by it. Once I've seen a location I plot it on the software to get a guide as to what the light will be, when.

I've already got the pinpoint on the house I'm going to be staying at in the South for France for two weeks for my holiday (at the end of next week - yippee!)

[ninefivepm]

Yes, tried out the photographer's ephemeris as well. Its free for desktop pc/mac and the app can be downloaded for a small price for andriod and iOS devices.

[Dave Humphries]

I have used to research cycle road race routes, finding suitable corners/straights with simple backgrounds, off-course parking and sun angles, when I used to shoot them.

[Nancy Moran G]

Very useful post, thank you. Oddly enough I will be in SF next month!
Nancy

[FrankMi]

Just realized the importance of the free google earth for outdoor photography and to understand the position of the sun at any location.

One of the great things about Google Earth for photographers is that you can scout out shooting subjects and locations that can't be seen from ground view and even see ways to get to the shooting locations that you wouldn't know about otherwise.

[ninefivepm]

thanks :-)

[ChrisGilbert]

One of the great things about Google Earth for photographers is that you can scout out shooting subjects and locations that can't be seen from ground view

Another nice thing is that the angle of the sun in each pic usually reveals the topography of the landscape. I use it in conjunction with TPE and weather satellite images. Very useful for short-term planning.

[dje]

In Google Earth, if you select View and then Sun, a small slider opens up and this allows you to see how the illumination by the sun changes with time. This is useful for early morning or late evening shots.

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you for this thread. It has been very helpful.

[darekk]

Google Earth imaginery and software is outstanding.
Here:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/azel.html
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/sunrise.html
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/
are very good calculators computing position of the sun (azimuth, elevation), sunrise and sunset time.

But Google Earth can help to identify mountains for example:



(Specimen Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park)

and perhaps to choose good position of a camera allowing to catch desired object. Or together with GPS data to identify location, where given image was shot.

[OldFrank]

I've found it helpful to screen capture a Google Earth scene and pep it up in LR or PS. Often desert or mountain roads and trails really pop out.

[dubaiphil]

I've found it very useful to scout locations when planning vacations. It's good to see different views of sights and vistas from different locations, as well as plan the path of the sun.