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PhotoPills – New App For Planning Landscape Images

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PhotoPills - ScreenshotOne of the great things about being a nature photographer in the digital age is that we have all these wonderful apps to help us plan our shots. And, now with the smartphone we can bring many of these apps along with us in the wilderness.

I’ve already talked about a few of these great apps, such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) and Stellarium. But, I just discovered another one that can be extremely useful in planning landscape images: PhotoPills.

PhotoPills actually does a ton of stuff, but there’s one thing it does better than any other app I’ve seen: it can tell you exactly WHEN the sun/moon will rise over a distant mountain (or lake, tree, etc) as viewed from a specific location. [Read more…] about PhotoPills – New App For Planning Landscape Images

Do You Refactor Your Photographs?

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cholla cactusAs a software developer, one of the things I do every day is refactor code. I’ll write some code to solve a problem, test it out to make sure it works, and then I’ll take another look at the code and see if there’s a way to make it more clear or more efficient. Then, of course, I’ll test it again 😉

Writers do this too. First, they’ll write a basic draft of their story to cover the main ideas, and then they’ll read it over and over again to make the words flow better and to make their message stand out more.

But, what about photographers? Do you ever take a look at one of your photos and say something like, “wow, I really like this photo of mine, but I wish one thing was different”? It doesn’t have to be something big, it could even be something as simple as moving your camera one step to the left so a tree stands out more from the background. [Read more…] about Do You Refactor Your Photographs?

Have You Updated Your Camera’s Firmware Lately?

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Update FirmwareFirmware is the low-level software that runs inside your camera, and basically controls how everything works. It’s the stuff that controls how images are written to your memory cards, how the lens talks to the camera and more.

Most digital SLRs these days allow you to upgrade the firmware. But, why would you want to do that? Maybe your camera seems to work perfectly already, so what’s the big deal about upgrading the software? [Read more…] about Have You Updated Your Camera’s Firmware Lately?

Photographer’s Ephemeris now available for iPhone!

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The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE)I’ve written about The Photographer’s Ephemeris before: it’s a free desktop application that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It’s a tool that helps show you the exact position of the sun and moon on a particular time of day, overlaying their azimuths on top of a Google Map.

It’s hard to explain the entire program in one sentence because it does so much. But, it’s a tremendous tool for landscape photographers, because it can help you scout out areas and determine ahead of time if the sun will shine on a particular mountain peak at sunset.

Well, this great tool is now available for the iPhone too! Here’s a list of the app’s great features: [Read more…] about Photographer’s Ephemeris now available for iPhone!

5 free software applications for nature photographers

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title1Photography is an expensive hobby, isn’t it?

Cameras cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, and lenses cost even more. Add on filters, and all the other required accessories, and you’ll quickly be staring at an empty wallet.

Fortunately, you can get some relief when it comes to software. Here are five great applications for nature photographers that are completely free: [Read more…] about 5 free software applications for nature photographers