If you want to find out about six essential apps for night (and day) photography, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you have iOS or Android, these apps will greatly enhance your photography. The sixth one is surely one that doesn’t make it on many photography app lists!
Clear Outside
Clear Outside is the app I use most for night or day photography. It provides information for cloud cover. This provides information for low, medium, and high clouds. If you’re a landscape photographer, you know how incredibly useful this information alone can be. Most apps simply say “cloudy,” “clear,” or “partially cloudy.”
The app also provides darkness conditions, the rise of the sun and moon, moon phase, fog, rain, temperature, wind, humidity, and more.
When I teach my night photography workshops, this is typically the first app I mention. It’s easy to understand and provides information clearly and succinctly.
As a bonus, you can save your locations. As a bonus, they also have a website that you can use for this very same thing. Learn more at clearoutside.com.
MyRadar
As great as Clear Outside is, it doesn’t tell everything. There are other atmospheric conditions, such as smoke caused by fire, that can interfere with how clear the sky is, or even whether you might be able to see the mountains or trees from a few miles away. MyRadar offers high-definition radar, NOAA weather alerts, temperatures, forecasts, and a detailed hurricane tracker as well. It also provides models of winds, clouds, haze, and more, which you may show as customizable layers. Learn more at MyRadar.com.
PhotoPills
This is an obvious pick, but with good reason. It seemingly does it all and goes as deep as you want it to go. Sometimes, I feel like I have to be a bit of a scientist to work this, but it rewards patience by doing … well, everything but the kitchen sink: landscape, Milky Way, moon, sunrise, sunset, architecture, star trails, drone, meteor showers, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, time-lapse, wedding, portrait, travel, location planning, augmented reality, determining depth of field, and more.
And yes, it works offline. Learn more at photopills.com.
Sky Guide
Free: iOS (“Lite” version available)
Sky Guide is an astronomy app that would satisfy just about anyone with a detailed, scalable (via the usual pinching method), and configurable map of the stars, showing all the celestial objects that you’ve come to know and love.
You can read about detailed information by poking or searching for a celestial object. That includes comets! And yes, it has the International Space Station too! You may turn constellations on or off (I usually have it off). Learn more at fifthstarlabs.com.
Note: Sky Guide is no longer available on Android. However, Star Walk 2 is, and it’s also free. And it too is good.
The Photographer’s Ephemeris
$9.99: Android or iOS
The Photographer’s Ephemeris is both an app and a web-based tool that utilizes map-based tools and augmented reality to visualize light direction and celestial events, aiding in location scouting and timing photo opportunities. I must confess, I haven’t used this in a while. I will likely rectify that by downloading the app when I’m finished. It is fantastic for determining where the light from the moon, sun, and more will illuminate the landscape. You can visualize where specific stars or the Milky Way will be on a map. You can also determine whether hills or other objects might block the sun or moon. And it does much more than this. Learn more at TPE.
Soothing Sleep Sounds
Free: iOS
Surprise! You weren’t expecting this, were you? I need to keep you on your toes.
Soothing Sleep Sounds, a perfectly descriptive name for an app if I’ve ever heard one, has a plethora of naturally recorded sounds that loop and continue throughout the night. You can mix and match rich sounds such as rainforests, gentle waves, South African crickets, campfires, or wind chimes. I’ve been using this app for many years to create a soothing environment and to mask out sounds as I sleep late. It does a good job of masking out those cheap motel rooms that have air conditioners or heaters that keep popping on and off and waking you up.
It works great at creating a soothing environment and masking annoying sounds after a long night of night photography. Even better, you may mix and match sounds so you have your favorites playing together. It will save them so you can always play them. I say yes!
This is only available for iOS, but there are apps, such as Sleep Sounds on Android, to help you sleep like a rock. We deserve it, right?