TIPS ON PREDICTING A GREAT SUNRISE OR SUNSET

First of all, let me start by saying that I’m not a weatherman or a meteorologist, nor do I profess to be. I’ll leave that to the professionals. This blog is about the methods I personally use for my landscape photography, so I can try to predict the weather conditions to suit places that I would like to shoot. For example, for me, if there is potential for mist I personally don’t want to be at the beach. I would rather be on top of a hill, looking down at ribbons of mist dancing in and out of the contours of the land. If I think there is going to be a colourful sunrise or sunset, I can then try and find a location that suits the position of the sun.

But let me make this clear from the start. Always take these applications with a pinch of salt and never let them sway you. Use them as a guide, but don’t let them make a decision for you on whether go out to shoot or not. These apps aren’t 100% accurate, either are my techniques, just use them as a guide.

So, how do I use these apps to try and predict a good sunset or sunrise? First of all, here is a quick lesson on how we see colour. This will make more sense as you read through the blog.

QUICK LESSON IN HOW WE SEE COLOUR

Firstly, I need to explain how we as humans see colour. Light travels from the sun through the atmosphere in waves, which to us generally look white, when in fact they are actually different colours. For example, blue has a short wavelengh and red has a much larger one. When you look up at the stars at night and you see them twinkling different colours, this is due to the waveslength of light that is hitting your eye, even though that light has taken thousands or millions of years to reach us.
Interesting fact - Sometimes we can see light from a star that no longer exists but, as that light takes so long to reach us, it looks as though its still there! Anyway, I digress.

SO WHY IS SUNSET / SUNRISE RED OR ORANGE IN COLOUR

When the sun is rising or setting, it is low on the horizon of the earths surface. What this means is, the sunlight we see has travelled through a much denser (thicker) amount of atmosphere. Blue light bounces and scatters more strongly by the earths atmosphere, which mean its mostly deflected away in other directions before it gets to us. This then leaves more yellow and red light for us to see. This is the basic science, and there is a diagram below to show you visually what I mean.

As I’ve mentioned above, I am not a weatherman so read these tips, take them on board, but these aren’t hard and fast rules. I’ve followed these rules many times. Do I fail? Of course I do, but I’ve also had great success. I’ve also decided not to go out in the past thinking that the weather and clouds aren’t going to play ball, to then find the sun has simply exploded. Anyway, here is the method that I use to try and predict epic sunrises and sunsets.

HIGH CLOUDS ARE YOUR FRIENDS

Clouds. CLOUDS, CLOUDS, CLOUDS. This is the key. Sounds obvious, eh, but there are different heights and this is important.

Cloud Height:

1) Low - < 6,500 ft
2) Medium - 6,500 to 23,000 ft
3) High - 23,000 to 45,000 ft

Medium and high clouds are your friend. In my experience, for there to be that epic redness in the sky, you need a gap in the cloud on the horizon for the light to be able to reach the medium and high cloud. This is where the red light we were talking about above can catch the bottom of the clouds to paint it that beautiful red and pink. Not only will it light the base of the clouds up, it will also paint beautiful light all over your subject. This is perfect for landscape photography. Remember, landscape photography is ALL ABOUT LIGHT.

I use a few apps to check where clouds will be and the height of these clouds. Bascially, what I am looking for is no low cloud on the horizon (Sunset West / Sunrise East) and medium to high clouds. This can also work if there is no medium and just high cloud and vice versa.

The first app I use is called Clear Outside. You can either download the app or use their website.

When you open the app, type in the location where you are thinking about shooting. You do this by clicking on locations > Add saved locations > Search for location. You can then save the location and see the weather predictions.

Once you have done that, you should see the following screen (with a bit more information below, but we will ignore that for now):

As you see from the diagram above you have the time and date at the top on the page. Below that, down the left hand side, you have sections labelled total cloud, low cloud, medium cloud and high cloud. To the right of these headings, you will see a number. These number will be between 0 - 100. These numbers represent a percent of cloud cover. For example 75 = 75%.

So, lets look at the forecast for 06:00. If you look for 06 at the top (represents 06:00) and then look down at the numbers below. The first number is 2. The next one down is also 2, and the third number is 86. This means there is 2% low cloud, 2% medium and 86% high cloud. That is a perfect combination for a colourful sunrise/sunset, as was seen this morning!!

On a side note, I find that the best colours appear 10-15 minutes after sunset or 20-15 minutes before sunrise, but other photographers my argue that.

This is a shot from inside my house as I was getting ready for work at 06:00am (the exact time of the example above):

The second app I use is called Ventusky. Again, you can either download the app or use their website. This is my preferred app when it comes to weather / cloud predictions, but I will always cross reference against 2 or 3 apps just to get as much information as I can.

When you log into Ventusky, on the right hand side you will see some options. Here you can chose clouds and what height of clouds you would like to see. You can’t see them all at one, but you can just click through the layers. The reason I prefer this app is because I can also see what the clouds are doing in the distance, not just in one location. This is important, as the sun won’t be setting in that exact location. Ideally, you will need clear skies a few hundred miles to the east or west (east sunrise / west sunset) for the light to react to you.

Here is an example of a cloud forecast, from Ventusky, that ended up being a beautiful sunset a few days ago. I’ll also upload the picture I took. I saw this forecast in the morning and decided on a location that I thought would best suit the conditions.

As you can see from the screenshots above, there is 0% low and medium cloud and 90% / 100% high cloud. PERFECT.

This is how I make sunset / sunrise predictions. Like I’ve said a few times, this isn’t a fool proof method. Apps are wrong, there is sometimes more / less cloud etc, but just use this as a guide. My advice will always be to go out and shoot whatever the apps say and enjoy whatever conditions you get, as that what makes photography special. You can get great shots whatever the conditions.

Here is the image I captured with the conditions above: