Any time of day is a good time for photography. But it’s no surprise that some times are better than others. The problem is, that time changes from one day to another and depends greatly on the weather.
To help you better judge when to go out and take photographs, a team of developers have created Golden Hour, a new iOS app that “helps you to find the best time, place, and weather for your outdoor pictures.”
Rather than guessing what time of day would be best to snap a few portraits or landscape shots, Golden Hour relies on two proprietary measurements to help guide you in the right direction: SkyIndex and LightIndex. The former is a measurement of how impressive the sky will be. For example, if a beautiful sunset is expected, Golden Hour will display a tiger SkyIndex rather than a bland evening sky. The latter is an overall measurement of how beautiful the golden hour of light will be. If clouds are expected for the evening, odds are the LightIndex will be much lower than a clear sky that will let the warm light shine on your composition.
The interface consists of a main clock element, which shows off the best times in both the morning and evening for taking photographs. Below the clock are the index levels and tabbed navigation.
For forgetful photographers like myself, there’s an integrated reminder feature. This will send you a push notification when the best time to shoot is near.
Another interesting feature is the map mode. When using the map, which relies on Apple Maps’ API, Golden Hour will show you the best direction to shoot your photographs, depending on whether you want to have the light shining on your subject or have your subject backlit.
Overall, it’s one of the best designed and most thoroughly thought out golden hour apps available. You can find it in the iOS App Store for $4.
