My list of handy photography apps and websites

Here are a bunch of handy apps and websites that I’ve found and use regularly in setting up a shoot and apps I use out in the field (I use an Android and am not sure if the same apps are available on iphone. Also keep in mind I shoot in Australia and so some of these apps/sites are tailored for use in Australia/Southern Hemisphere). I’ll try to keep this list up to date in the future as I discover more, and give my thoughts on each; 

Planning

For general planning of a shoot

• Photopills

  • A must have for any landscape/astro photographer. Well worth the price and absolutely invaluable for planning shoots as well as determining/calculating various settings once on location. Easily my most used app

  • This app has too many features to list in this post, but to give an idea of what it can do some of the features include;

    • Location planning with sunset/rise times, golden/blue hour times, moonrise/set times, milkyway core rise/set times as well as displaying positions of the various sky objects at set times and shadow directions. Comes with augmented reality features to help plan

    • Moon phases

    • Exposure/depth of field/timelapse calculators

    • Star trail calculators 

• The Photographers Ephemeris

  • Available as a webb app, downloadable computer app or mobile apps

  • Found at: https://www.photoephemeris.com/

  • Very similar to Photopills in that the main feature is a planner that is invaluable. Whilst Photopills has many more features, TPE is free to use and has a handy light pollution map that is useful for night sky photography!

• Planit Pro

  • Similar app to Photopills in that it contains many of the same features

  • Whilst photopills does have more features in terms of useful things like the calculators, Planit Pro has a Virtual Reality mode (rather than the Augmented Reality mode offered by Photopills) that is more accurate. It is also cheaper to buy. 

  • Overall very solid app and well worth the price 

• Google Maps / Google Earth

  • Useful for scouting a new location out ahead of time. Often in the satellite views you can get an idea of any interesting objects you can use in your landscapes

Weather & Clouds

Radars, maps and forecasts

• Willy-Weather website/app

• Clear Outside website/app

• YR.no website/app

  • Note that the site is much more comprehensive and more useful for planning than the app

• Cloud Free Night website

• Beareu of Meterology website + radars

• UAV Forecast Android app

• Skippy Sky website

These sites/apps all have their pros/cons. Forecasting clouds is tricky and fairly inaccurate at the best of times if you’re using a single source. I’ll be writing a blog post dedicated to clouds soon where I go over some of the ins and outs of forecasts, but what you should know is that each site will use data from either ACCESS, ACCESS-C,  GFS or ECMWF. At this stage, know that GFS tends to have more optimistic data (in terms of being cloud free) as it tends to be more conservatice than ACCESS, and ACCESS tends to have more accurate data for Australia as it uses local data for the prediction models. The accuracy of their predictive models also depends on forecast grid resolution and how many forecast sites are accessed. Needless to say there can be a lot of variation between each site. Forecasts tend to get more accurate the closer you are to the date/time you want to head out, so it’s worth keeping an eye out on these sites right up to when you want to head out and shoot.

The way that I use multiple sources is as follows;

• If sites that use different models show forecasts in the opposite direction, this usually indicates that the weather pattern is not stable and it could go either way. Best to look at real data on the day 

• Often sites will publish data in certain interval ranges (3hrs or 6hrs for example). If predictions are flipping between interval ranges (Eg/ from clear to cloudy) and back again on checking updates, that also indicates unstable patterns that could go either way

• If different sites/models give forecasts that are similar or converging on each other, that indicates more reliability and a higher likelihood of an accurate forecast. 

• Generally speaking, I’ll try to take an average between multiple sites that use the same data source to get an idea of cloud cover (eg/ one site may say 40% high clouds, another may say 80% high clouds - in this case I’ll plan for ~60% high cloud cover. This may not be scientific or accurate, but has led to less disappointment for myself personally)

Aurora Hunting

Forecast, alert and general info

• Aurora Hunters Victoria facebook group

• Victoria Aurora Alert facebook group

• Aurorafc.space website

• Aurora Australis Tasmania facebook group

• Southern Hemisphere Aurora facebook group

• SpaceWeatherLive (website/app)

• Aurora Alerts Android app

• Aurora.live Free Android app

Whilst I’ve yet to catch any aurora’s I’m happy to display in my gallery or sell a print of, I’ve found the above sites very useful.
Aurora forecasting is tricky business and it is very hard to predict auroras with high certainty until a few hours before one will hit. Nethertheless, there are indicators which can be used to forecast the probability of an aurora hitting, and indicators that are useful on the day of an aurora to guide when to head out and what to expect. 

The facebook groups listed are incredibly useful as a resource to help you in getting some indication of when an aurora may be likely/when it hits, and useful for a number of handy resources in getting you started in aurora hunting. Be sure to read the rules of the group and use the search features if you have questions as often they’ve been answered in detail in the past (eg/ best spots to see the aurora, best camera settings to use etc)

The SpaceWeatherLive resources is incredibly handy, especially if you take the time to learn what some of the terminology refers to. The app is a useful resource for getting aurora predictions and real time space weather data, as well as getting alerted if there is a chance of any activity.

The Aurora Alerts and Aurora.live Free android apps can be useful in getting current data, as well as predictions. It’s handy to set a push notification alert when certain parameters are met if you are serious about aurora hunting (such as KP alerts)

Bioluminescence

• Bioluminescence Australia facebook group

  A useful group to join to help you get started when bioluminescence hunting. There is a lot of useful information on the group (again, use the search function) and people posting alerts when bioluminescence has been spotted

Storm Chasing

Forecasts, radars and alerts

• Storm Radar Android app

• My Lightning Tracker Android app 

• Blitzortung Android app

• BOM satellite data / radar maps

• Lightningmaps.org website

• Blitzortung.org website

Of all of the above, I would start at lightningmaps.org and blitzortung.org. Both provide free lightning tracking resources/maps and you can find links to apps on both iOS and Android. Apps like My Lightning Tracker can be used to set alerts within a certain radius to give you live data on sky to ground lightning strikes which combined with weather radar maps from BOM can give you an accurate idea of which direction a storm is heading for chasing purposes

Sunset/Sunrise

Prediction/forecast

• SkyCandy Android App

This one is a bit hit and miss. I’m not sure what weather forecast model it is using, and whether this app uses GFS/ACCESS data but it attempts to take into account a number of factors apart from cloud height and density to give you an idea whether a sunset or sunrise will have spectacular colour or not. It is useful in conjunction with weather apps/websites in determining whether you should stay in bed for a sunrise or not in that if all of the data points converge. 

Night sky

Planning and tracking

• PolarFinder Android app

• SAM Console Android app

• SkEye Android app

• StarWalk 2 Android app

• Stellerium PC app

Useful apps to set up your star tracker and to help you find objects in the sky at night. StarWalk can also be set to send you alerts for certain events (Eg/ large meteor showers or eclipses) 

Dark Sky

Light pollution maps

• DarkSkyFinder.com 

• TPE app/site

• PlanitPro Android app

Want to know if you will be able to see the milkyway core and the stars in the night sky? Then head to one of these sources and use the light pollution maps to determine how dark your patch of sky will be. As a general rule of thumb anything on the colour scale that is black, dark blue/navy, blue or dark green should be sufficient. Lighter green is often still fine but you may be needing better lenses and stacking techniques to get the most detail out of your night sky. Also take into account that most of these maps don’t take into account your elevation (so if you happen to have a high mountain in a ‘bright’ area you may still see the night sky well if you are above the haze/light pollution) or local light pollution (eg/ you may arrive at a dark destination only to find flood lights or something that may ruin your photography). 

Drone Flying

• Can I Fly There?

  A basic app from CASA that shows no-fly zones for drone users in Australia. Check if you are allowed to fly in certain areas before you take off!

Post Processing

• Photoshop (& Bridge)

• Lightroom

• Luminar

• Sequator

• PhotoPea website

• DJI GO 4 Android App

  • Useful for quick editing of your drone videos. Has a bunch of filters and transition effects + music

• PanoramaCrop Android App

  • The app does what the name suggests; allows you to post your panoramas to Instagram. It has a bunch of different options available, allowing you to make a swipeable post or a no crop post. I’ve found it very easy to use and fairly useful for those files that aren’t in a suitable crop for instagram

• UNFOLD Android App

• PhotoGrid Android App

• SquareFit Android App

Most of these I won’t really go into, however I want to make quick mention of www.photopea.com. This website is amazing! It is a fully functioning photo editor that has almost the same features and processing capability of photoshop - however it is completely free and is web based! One of the most amazing things is that it doesn’t require you to upload your photos and once the site is loaded you don’t require internet connectivity to use it. Simply amazing resource!

Other

• ND filter Android app

  Very handy app to help you find the correct camera settings to ensure optimal exposure when using ND filters to save you having to calculate it yourself

This list is by no means exhaustive and represents the apps/sites I’ve come across. Do you have a favorite app or site that is not listed here? Drop me a comment and let me know!