A key component of location scouting for photography is pinpointing when the location will have the best light – but mountains and buildings can throw off even the most well-laid plans. The sun-planning app Sun Quest, however, has just added a 3D mapping feature that helps photographers see where the shadows from buildings and mountains will fall.
Sun Quest is an Apple-compatible app – with an Android version in the works – that illustrates the path of the sun on any given day, used for tasks from planning a garden to timing a photo shoot. The indie app’s February update, however, adds a major feature: 3D Terrain Shadows.
By mixing the astrological path of the sun with a 3D map of the area’s buildings and hills, Sun Quest can now help predict where the shadows will fall, a tool that may come in handy for several different photography scenarios.
First, mountains and other structures can alter when Golden Hour happens, that hour before sunset (or after sunrise) that photographers love for its softer, warmer light. Scheduling a photo shoot an hour before the sun sets in a mountainous region may mean missing the golden hour if the mountain blocks the path of the sun.
While shadows during Golden Hour mean a missed opportunity, during mid-day, shadows mean soft light. Photographers working with a mid-day time frame could use the app to plan where to find readily available soft light and which sunny areas to avoid for portraits.
Planning for the shadows could also help landscape photographers plan out shots for the best light by visualizing where the shadows will fall and pinpointing the time when the sun will line up with a structure like a building or mountain.
Sun Quest is an app launched by Indie developer, solo creator, and mountain enthusiast Nicolas Marty. The app launched last summer to predict and visualize the path of the sun at certain times of the day. Since the launch, the app has gained more than 100,000 users and a 4.8-star average rating.
The Sun Quest app is available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but developer notes that an Android version is in the works. The app is free to download, with some premium features requiring a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase.
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