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The first weather app for photographers! Don’t miss any light moods at the photo spots. We explain how weather forecasting works.
Nothing is more important in landscape photography than the light. This is determined by nothing other than the weather prevailing at the photo spot: Fog, red sky or starry sky. Different weather transforms the landscape. The weather forecast for photographers is one of the most important skills of a landscape photographer.Â
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In this blog article, we briefly introduce you to how you can predict these weather phenomena with VIEWFINDR. In VIEWFINDR we offer the first and only weather forecast for photographers.
A grey sky often looks boring in many motifs, the same applies to a completely cloudless sky. A beautiful sunset or dawn adds colour to the sky and in addition the structured clouds round off the appearance of the photo. Evening glow and dawn glow are created when there are layered clouds above your subject, while the horizon remains free of clouds. The light of the low sun can then illuminate the clouds above your subject from below. At VIEWFINDR, we know how important sunset and dawn are for photographers’ weather forecasts, which is why we have developed a special weather parameter that can reliably show you whether there will be sunset or dawn on your subject.
In the weather forecast for photographers, a distinction must be made between three types of fog: Fog veil, dense ground fog and high fog. Depending on which of the three types of fog is to be expected, you as a photographer must choose a different motif. The fine fog veils are best photographed in a valley and on flat plains. Here you go directly into the fog with your camera. The fog is so thin that the light of the sun can break through it and create fantastic light moods.
If, on the other hand, dense fog is to be expected, you can always expect a grey soup in the lowlands and in the valley. You must therefore go to a vantage point in dense fog from which you can look down on the lower-lying fog. The same applies to high fog, this is a few hundred metres above the ground. In VIEWFINDR, we have developed weather parameters in our weather forecast for photographers that show you whether it is fog or dense fog and how high the high fog will get. This way you can plan your photo tours much more efficiently.
Conventional weather apps can only show you the cloud cover at the location you select in the app. To photograph the starry sky, you need a weather forecast for photographers that can also take into account the clouds in the immediate and wider surroundings. Even clouds dozens of kilometres away can cloud the view of the starry sky. In VIEWFINDR we calculate the clouds three-dimensionally into our weather forecast for photographers. You can therefore be sure that with VIEWFINDR you will find a completely clear starry sky from one side of the horizon to the other.
Nothing disturbs a landscape photographer more than when the light of the rising or setting sun is blocked by clouds. To prevent this from happening, we have developed a weather parameter that determines whether the horizon will be free of clouds relative to your position. This way you can be sure that your subject will be reached by the soft morning or evening light. To do this, we calculate the changing position of the sun with the season relative to the predicted cloud cover. This weather forecast for photographers is unique to VIEWFINDR and cannot be done with an ordinary weather app.
The blue hour is commonly referred to as the period after sunset and before sunrise, when the blue light of the illuminated sky is the dominant light colour. The soft light particularly flatters the subject in the landscape. To achieve this, however, the sky must be as free of clouds as possible in all directions so that the light can reach your subject. In VIEWFINDR we achieve this by calculating the clouds in the vicinity of the motif three-dimensionally for the weather forecast for photographers. In VIEWFINDR you can see at a glance whether you should go to your motif.
Predicting the exact position of thunderstorm cells is the supreme discipline of meteorology. In VIEWFINDR we use the latest weather model of the German Weather Service. Our weather forecast for thunderstorms is not perfect, but with a good degree of accuracy you can see in VIEWFINDR at what time an approaching thunderstorm front will arrive in your region. You can recognise the direction of the storm and select a suitable photo motif from the more than 10,000 photo spots in VIEWFINDR. If a photo spot is suitable for photographing thunderstorms, this photo spot is linked directly to the weather parameter.
A grey sky is boring, but so is a completely blue sky. We have therefore developed a weather parameter that can accurately predict the balance between the two. If the clouds in the sky have great shapes and structures, the probability of this weather parameter is particularly high on the photo subject. The parameter is also particularly suitable for taking long exposures. With the help of an ND1000 filter, these structured clouds can be blurred into beautiful stripes.
The amount of fallen snow shows a high variance locally. The height of the mountain peaks is crucial, as is the exact path of the snowfall. In VIEWFINDR we use high-resolution local weather models that can resolve even small mountain ranges. This way you can estimate the snow depth much more accurately than in other weather apps. In addition, photo spots that are particularly interesting for photographing with snow have been linked to our weather forecast for photographers. You can view these photo spots sorted.
Another phenomenon of fog is hoarfrost. Icing on vegetation occurs as soon as fog is within a region with sub-zero temperatures. The fine, supercooled water droplets of the fog touch the vegetation and immediately freeze to it. A beautiful, photogenic layer of ice forms on the vegetation after a few hours. In VIEWFINDR we mark regions where the fog freezes to the vegetation so that you can target these regions for photography.
Did you know that the main problem in observing the aurora borealis is the weather and clouds, not the appearance of the aurora? The aurora is actually present, not always strongly, every night. On a trip to see the aurora, it is important to know exactly when a gap in the clouds occurs. In VIEWFINDR we can show this and also help you with your aurora photography.
