Apps for Landscape Photographers

Apps for Landscape Photographers help me plan for a photoshoot and to get images that are “sell worthy“. Using these apps makes my photo shoots a more likelihood of success. Ranging from weather, sun direction, location, preplanning composition etc. Below I will list my top 5 Landscape photography apps and my most used.

1. Google Earth

I don’t know what landscape photographers did without this over 20 years ago! I use this constantly! Whether I am preplanning new locations to photograph or new places to fly my drone.

Google Earth is a program which can render a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. You can look at any location in the world!! Although not all locations are in 3D but street view is very handy in finding out things like where I will plan to park ie is there double yellow lines? pay and display or free parking. Will I have to walk for far to get to my location?

You can also look at the various viewpoints via 360 images and street view to get an idea on what viewpoint I would like to take my image from. It’s amazing, especially if you are like me not a big fan of surprise and am an avid planner.

This app is available for FREE for iOS and Android devices. Or if you would prefer you can use it via your browsers here

2. Clear outside

Clear outside is a detailed weather app for your mobile phone and desktop. This app is a very popular choice amongst landscape photographers. This has a 7-day forecast and has detailed cloud cover percentages which is very useful for pre planning. I use it all the time but with a combination of other weather apps to get more accuracy.

Clear Outside Features include:

• Seven-day hourly forecasts, updated hourly.

• Low, medium, high and total cloud cover.

• Moon rise/set times and phase.

• Sun rise/set and transit.

• Civil/nautical/astronomical darkness.

• International Space Station (ISS) pass-over information.

• Location search automatically provides a forecast for your location.

• Save favourite locations for easy access.

• Covers daytime too so also useful for solar observers/images.

This app is available for FREE for iOS and Android devices.

3. yr.no

This is a Norwegian weather forecasting app. Combine this app with clear outside to get more of an accurate weather prediction. I find the web app version is the best as it has the most amount of details and features.

This app is available for FREE for iOS and Android devices. For the web app please click here to visit the YR.NO website.

4. Tides Near Me

This app is very handy if you are a fan of seascape photography. Not only is it good to check the tides for your own safety but also if there is a particular shot you are looking for ie waves crashing into a cave. You won’t be disappointment to find the sea tide out when you get to your location with this app. You will know beforehand whether you can get those fabulous long exposure waves shoots!

This apps for Landscape Photographers focuses on nearby tide stations and current tidal conditions. Quickly learn the time of the last and next tide and current, as well as when the sun and moon will rise or set. Fully automated tide tables, charts, and prediction.

This app is available for FREE for iOS and Android devices.

5. The Photographer’s Ephemeris

Last but not least is The Photographer’s Ephemeris! This apps for Landscape Photographers is an extremely clever app and should be in every landscape photographers tool kit!

This app is a map-centric sun and moon calculator. You can see how the light will fall on the land, be it day or night, for almost anywhere on earth. You can really preplan all the details of your shoots. Want to know where exactly the sun will rise of set in your composition? This is the app for you! Although it’s not free…It is worth every penny.

This app is available for iOS and Android devices and the webapp you can find here.

Other honourable mentions:
PhotoPills

MeteoBlue

Storm Radar