PhotoPills User Guide (II)

It gives you quick access to all the Sun information, including: Sunrise and Sunset times, Sun path view in augmented reality (AR), golden hour, blue hour and twilight times, Moonrise and Moonset times, Moonphase, Galactic Center visibility times and more.

Use it in the field to have a fast look to the daily information or to visualize the Sun position and path with the augmented reality view (even offline).

Info

Location, date and time

Right above the big Sun picture you’ll see the date, time and location the Sun Pill is using to display all the information.

Settings: change location and time

By default, the Sun Pill gives you the information relative to your current position, date and time. But you can choose a different location, date and time by tapping on the Settings button (top right-hand corner).

There is another way to change the date and time. We’ll show it to you in the following section.

Change date and time shortcut

To jump to the next day, tap the arrow you see on the right-hand side of the big Sun picture.

To jump to the previous day, tap the arrow you see on the left-hand side of the big Sun picture.

To change time forward, swipe the big Sun picture to the left.

And to change time backwards, swipe the big Sun picture to the right.

Big Sun Picture, rise and set times and light

The big picture of the Sun will change its color as the light changes: yellow (daytime), orange (golden hour), purple (blue hour), dark purple (nautical twilight), dark blue (astronomical twilight), and gray-yellow (nighttime).

Below the big picture of the Sun you have the Sunrise and Sunset times for the selected date. And also the name of the type of light you have at the selected date and time (daytime, golden hour, blue hour, nautical twilight, astronomical twilight and nighttime).

Daily Light, Sun, Moon and Milky Way events

The Sun > Info gives you all the key day events displayed in order from midnight to midnight, including:

Sunrise and Sunset times.
Moonrise, Moonset times and Moon phase. Next to the time, you’ll see a small Moon picture showing the Moon phase. The background color of the Moon picture tells you the light, daytime (blue), nighttime (black), golden hour (orange), blue hour (dark blue)...
Galactic Center visibility times. Next to the time, you’ll see a line of white dots that shows you the inclination of the Milky Way at that time. This way it’s easy to know whether the Moon will be out when shooting the Milky Way.
Golden hour times (morning and evening).
Blue hour times (morning and evening).
Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight times (morning and evening).

Elevation of the Sun path

If you keep scrolling down, you’ll find the elevation path of the Sun. Change the time and see how the Sun changes the elevation. To change the time just swipe right or left the Sun path.

Sun information table

Below the elevation path of the Sun you’ll find a table with key information for the selected date:

Time to rise/Time to set: Hours left for Sunrise or Sunset (relative to the date and time you have set).
Daylight: Number of hours between Sunrise and Sunset.
Azimuth: Position of the Sun measured in angle from the north. Read the article Understanding azimuth and elevation.
Elevation: Position of the Sun measured vertically. Read the article Understanding azimuth and elevation.
Angular diameter: The diameter of the Sun measured in angle. It’s useful when planning long distance shots of the Sun and you wish to control how big the Sun will be compared to your subject. You can do the same thing with the Moon. Read the article The shooting spot determines the size of the Moon relative to your subject.
Distance: Distance between the Sun and Earth.
Shadow ratio: The ratio of an object’s height to its shadow length. Multiply the height of any object by the shadow ratio to calculate the length of the object's shadow.
Transit: The time when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky.

Calendar

For the selected month, Sun > Calendar gives you a table with the daily Sunrise and Sunset times. And also the azimuths the Sun is rising and setting: Time@azimuth (7:45 [email protected]º).

To change the month, swipe the calendar right or left. Or tap the month you see on top of the table (on the sides).

Tap on the date you wish to see the Sun information.

To go back to the current month, tap Today (on the top right-hand side corner).

Augmented Reality (AR)

Imagine that you’re in the field about to shoot the Sunrise. Tap on Sun and use the AR view to see where the Sun will rise.

Information on the AR view

The augmented reality view gives you the position and path of the Sun for the selected location (by default where you are), date and time.

You’ll see the selected date and time on the top left-hand corner of the AR view.

Use it when planning your Sun shots in situ, to adjust your frame and shooting spot for the best composition before you shoot.

	Sun path
	Horizon
	Elevation (10-degree steps) and azimuthal lines

Change date and time

Swipe the AR view to the left to move time forward. Swipe it to the right to move time backwards. See how the Sun moves on the AR view!

Tap on the right-hand side of the AR view to jump to the next day.

Tap on the left-hand side of the AR view to jump to the previous day.

Tap on Now (top left-hand corner) or double tap on the center of the screen to come back to your current date and time.

Calibrating the AR view

The quality of the information displayed in the AR view is good enough to work, but it strongly depends on the limitations of the sensors of your device (GPS, Accelerometer, Gyroscope). This is an issue we cannot control but, as technology advances, manufacturers improve the quality of sensors too.

Make sure you are away from any electronic device or magnetic field because they may interfere with the sensors of the device. It is recommended to wait a few seconds to let the system become stable.

And always calibrate the AR view. Doing the 8-figure gesture four or five times to ensure that the compass is as accurate as possible. You can also use the calibration button (bottom left-hand corner of the AR view) to visually calibrate this view with the real Sun, Moon or Milky Way. Watch this video tutorial: Calibrating the Augmented Reality views.

Note: iPod Touch users or Android devices without compass sensor! These devices do not have a magnetometer. Therefore, it is not possible to draw in augmented reality (AR) the information of the Sun, Moon, Milky Way, celestial equator and celestial poles. That’s why the AR is not available.

Seasons

For the selected year, Sun > Seasons gives you a table with the solstices and equinoxes dates.

Tap on the desired date to see Sun > Info.

To change the year, swipe the table right or left. Or tap the year you see on top of the table (on the sides).

To go back to the current year, tap Current year (on the top right-hand side corner).

Action

Tap on the Action button (bottom right-hand corner) to share a screenshot of the Sun option you’re using (Info, Calendar, AR or Season) on Facebook, Twitter, or by email. And to save it to your camera roll.

When you’re using Sun > Info, the action button allows you to send the date and time to the Planner, and even to add an alert to your device calendar.

10.Moon

You’ll find the Moon Pill in the Pills menu. And it works offline!

It gives you quick access to the main Moon information (even offline), including: Moonrise and set times, Moon phase, Moon path view in augmented reality, Moon calendar and SuperMoon dates.

Use it in the field to have a fast look to the Moon information or to visualize the Moon position and path with the augmented reality view (even offline).

Oh!

And the Moon calendar is super useful!

Info