Solar Calculator

[d4fotografix]

For those of you that would like to plan your photo shoot or event in regards to sun direction for a specific location, date and time of day, I found this handy little tool:

ESRL Global Monitoring Division - GRAD Group

Zoom in to your desired location and fill in the fields for the date and time of day of your shoot. For example, this is showing a small race track called Thunder Hill Raceway south of Austin:


I entered the data in the fields so I know the sun direction (yellow line) at 4PM on Saturday, April 23rd, 2011. If, for example, I was in the grandstands I would know the sun would be setting behind me and to the left (red line).

The sunrise direction is shown with a green line. If I want to use the grandstands as a backdrop then a morning shoot might be a better option.

And if you ARE trying to achieve a specific effect using back lighting, sometimes it's helpful to have just a little more information to prepare.