Planning Lunar, Astronomical or Scenic Photos with the Lunar Phase Andoid App

When I was finally able to purchase a DSLR, one of the first photos I wanted to take was one of a full (or nearly full) moon. It was a type of photography that was not doable with my point and shoots and one I wanted to try for myself.

I have on a few occasions taken the time to set up and take some photos of the moon and you can see some of my results in my Shooting the Moon post and again on my post titled Shooting the Daylight Moon. All of my lunar photo sessions have been spur of the moment type scenarios where the conditions are favorable and I grab my gear and go take my photos. Planning a lunar photo shoot is next on my list as I have in mind what I anticipate to be a good location for a full moon rising picture.

Recently I have found a great Android App to assist in the planning of any photographs involving the sun, moon or lack of either: The Lunar Phase app developed by AndScaloid. The app is packed with every stitch of information you could possibly need or want to know about the moon. Starting with the obvious: the moon's phase, we'll also know rising and setting times, its age, illumination and if its ascending or descending (among other information available). You can also choose to display information for the sun (rise, set, civil dawn, civil dusk and more). The rise and set times will come in very handy for planning a sun/moon rise/set photo, as will the calendar to view when the next full moon happens to be. Or on the other hand, you can see when the new moon is if the goal is a night sky photo with no moon visible.

You can also add a bookmark for your location and you will get two arc's drawn on a Google Maps view depicting the path of the moon and sun, complete with graphics of each when they are in view. You will need to get a latitude and longitude coordinate for this feature though, but that is easily attained on Google maps by right clicking on the location and selecting the "What's here?" option. Just make sure you set your time zone in your bookmark or you may be wondering why it always defaults to the time in New York.

All in all this is a great app that I would definitely recommend if your looking for something to help plan out any photos that involve the sun, moon or night sky in anyway.

Blessings,

Jesse