Hello Nightscapers,
In this blog post I am going to talk about the Mobile phone apps I use for Nightscape photography. This is not an exhaustive guide or in depth review of each app, it’s more quick tips on some useful apps and how I personally use them for my Nightscape photography.
The image above is the actual screen of my phone so I will start top left of my phones screen and work my way across and down. You will notice how I have a whole screen dedicated to Night photography related apps, this is simply so they are easy to find when I need them.
Some of these apps will be useful to everyone, some will have no use unless you own the particular products they control, but I thought for this blog I would go through all of what’s on my phones “Nightscape homepage” regardless, let’s get into it!
PHASES OF THE MOON
Phases of the moon is a simple app that gives quick visual reference about the current moon phase. It gives the phase, “moon rise” and “moon set” times, shows illumination and allows you to quickly scroll through dates to find the best nights in regards to the moon phases for your nightscapes or even check the calendar ahead. It can also be set to your phones wallpaper.
How do I use this app? I mainly use this to scroll quickly through the moon phases and look at moon rise/set times in the immediate future, generally after my last shift at work for the week ahead.
NIGHTSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHERS AUSTRALIA
Not really an app but some might find this useful. I have a shortcut link to my Nightscape Photographers Australia facebook group on this screen, this is so I can access the group with just one click.
I look in the group daily and often just jump on and check out the posts when I have time, It is really just there for convenience. Why not add a shortcut on your phones home screen.
Link to Nightscape Photographers Australia
SPACE WEATHER LIVE
Space Weather Live is a fantastic app for those interested in Aurora, It gives real time auroral and solar activity.
Check out real time data for all the important Aurora indicators such as Kp, Kp forecast, Solar wind speed, solar wind density, Bz, Bt various magnetometers, sunspots, coronal holes, solar flares, this app has literally everything you need when it comes to Aurora and predicting Aurora. There’s even news, reports and forecasts.
I personally use this to check things like coronal holes and real time Aurora data/indicators on nights with high probability of Aurora so I can predict when or if I need to be out taking images. It takes a while to learn how to read the information available but once you do, apps like Space Weather Live are invaluable for capturing Aurora.
TAFS (The Aurora Forecast service) by Brendan Davey
TAFS is another Aurora hunting app. This app gives real time data of all the important Aurora indicators on one graph, you can set this up to suit your needs and knowledge. You can also use this to see what is happening with various magnetometers including Brendan’s own in Tasmania or set it up to show only local magnetometers.
Although the Space Weather Live App does most of this to I have used TAFS for quite a few years and it helps me quickly see what is happening, I can predict Aurora and when we will see it here in Victoria very accurately using this app.
Link to TAFS (The Aurora Forecast service)
PHOTOPILLS
PhotoPills is easily the most feature rich and well known app for Night photography, really what can’t it do? It gives information about sunrise, sunset, moon phases, moon rise, moon set and galactic core visibility, just to mention a few things this app can do. It really is a fully featured do it all app for planning your Njghtscape photography that everyone should have on their phone.
I personally use it’s widget the most and have it set as a full screen to itself on my phone. This allows me to quickly access info on sunrise, sunset, galactic core visibility, moon rise/set times etc. With one press of the widget I can access more in-depth information about each of these and access a lot of PhotoPills features. It is absolutely amazing for planning future shoots and offers so much more than what I personally use it for, I really only scratch the surface in the way I use this app.
WEATHER ZONE
Weatherzone – From the weatherzone site “Weatherzone is Australia’s favourite weather app. Featuring the latest real-time observations from the Bureau of Meteorology, hourly and daily forecasts, rain radar and more features than any other Australian weather app”.
I personally use weatherzone mainly for checking the weather forecasts for the next week to help me decide what days might be the best for heading out for photography.
BUT I really don’t overthink this, if for example there is a chance of Aurora I will head out regardless what weather sites/apps are telling me as often local weather is quite different to what these sites and apps are telling you. Likewise if the moon phase, times and galactic core all line up well, I will still go out despite what these apps tell me. I would rather put myself in the position to take photographs than “give up” because the weather app/man said it would be cloudy, the weather man is often wrong…….
STELLARIUM MOBILE SKY MAP
Stellarium Mobile sky map – My most used app.
Information is straight from Stellarium
Stellarium Mobile Sky Map is a planetarium app that shows exactly what you are looking at when you look up at the stars.
This award-winning astronomy application will let you explore the sky and identify stars, constellations, planets, comets, satellites such as the ISS, and other deep sky objects in real time in the sky above you in just a few seconds, just by pointing the phone at the sky!
Stellarium Mobile Sky Map has an easy to use and minimalist user interface that makes it one of the best astronomical applications for children and adults who want to discover the night sky.
It features:
★ a catalog of over 600,000 stars displayed as a real time zoomable sky map
★ a catalog of many nebulas, galaxies, star clusters and other deep sky objects
★ asterisms and illustrations of the constellations for several sky cultures: discover how people see the stars in other parts of the planet
★ artificial satellites, including the International Space Station
★ realistic Milky Way and Deep Sky Objects images
★ realistic landscape and atmosphere with sunrise, sunset and light pollution simulation
★ accurate simulation of stars extinction, and atmosphere refraction
★ 3D rendering of the major solar system planets and their satellites
★ night mode (red) protecting your eyes when doing sky observation at night time
★ view a night sky map of stars and planets for any date, time and location
Stellarium Mobile Sky Map is created by two of the original developers of Stellarium, one of the best astronomy applications on Desktop PC.
Stellarium is easily my most used app for Nightscape photography, I use it for many things, identifying night sky objects, identifying direction, finding Uranus…………apparently hilarious to my son.
But the feature I use the most is the Date and Time feature, I can set the date in the future and see what position the milky way or a planet will be in for any given time in the year, I use this when I am standing at a location I’d like to photographer during the day or night.
Quite often I will be out at a location taking images at night and I will scroll dates in the future just to see what I might be able to capture on those dates. I also scroll forward in time to see where say the milky way core will be later in the night.
Stellarium is a great educational and planning tool! If you only have one app on your phone make it this.
GOOGLE EARTH
Google earth is satellite imagery of the entire globe.
Although I don’t use Google Earth all that often I do use it occasionally to scout ahead if visiting a new location or look for places that look interesting for Night photography.
With Google Earth you can look around a certain area you are interested in photographing to find interesting features. For instance I’ve found old jetties along lake edges, large trees, interesting rock formations, old buildings the list goes on, I really should use it more for planning it really is a great tool.
SAM CONSOLE
Sam console is the official Skywatcher Star Adventurer mini app, I do not own a Star adventurer mini and do not know a lot about this app, but I do use it after I found an interesting video on polar alignment for small star tracking mounts in the southern hemisphere.
The SAM Console App has a polar clock utility that I use to help me align Octans correctly in the reticule of my Skywatcher Star Adventurer and IOpron Star Tracker Pro. I also use the information for latitude and longitude when polar aligning my mounts.
INCLINOMETER FREE
What is an inclinometer? A device for measuring the angle of inclination of something, especially from the horizontal.
There really isn’t too much to this one, I use it for setting the latitude on the latitude base of my Skywatcher Star Adventurer star tracking mount.
Unfortunately I can’t find a link to the exact inclinometer I use but there are lots of options available.
LUME – X
Lume Cube app for controlling Lume Cubes lights from your smart phone.
The following Information is straight form Lume cube.
The Lume Cube App offers you a creative control panel in the palm of your hand. Controlled wirelessly via Bluetooth, you’re able to control multiple Lume Cubes independently while you light your scene. Each Lume Cube can be named independently (i.e. Left, Right, Fill, Hair Light, etc) and can be adjusted from 1% – 100% brightness levels. Additionally, you are able to turn on/off each light, set them to one of the many strobe modes, or utilize the Slave Flash functionality by turning on the Optical Sensor and using your Lume Cube as a Secondary Flash when shooting flash photography.
LUME-X is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, and can control your Lume Cubes from approximately 60 feet away!
This is another app I do not use very often as I prefer to just use the manual buttons on my Lume Cubes but the App does work very well.
SYRP GENIE II
The Syrp Genie II app is the app used for controlling Syrp motion control devices.
I own the Syrp Genie II linear, and two Genie mini II’s that need this app to operate, this isn’t a general app and has no use unless you own Syrp products. But it does work extremely well, giving you a lot of control over these products.
So there you have it, the apps I use for my Nightcsape photography, I hope you found this quick tips blog useful for your own photography.
Cheers
Daniel Gangur
More
Basic Nightsky photography – How to
Lens choice for Nightsky photography
Focussing on the stars – Obtaining sharp focus.
