As a nerd and photographer I'm all about digital tools that will help me in my quest to capture the best landscapes. Sometimes it can be hard to know when or where to go. Sometimes you go out at sunset and the colors just... aren't quite as spectacular as you imagined. Or the stars are hard to capture. But luckily there are a couple online tools to help plan for these situations.

SunsetWX

SunsetWX is a service that uses weather models to predict the quality of upcoming sunrises and sunsets. In my experience it's pretty accurate too. Of course weather can change unpredictably at times, so it's not 100% certain. Personally I've started taking sunrise photos, and I'd rather not wake up early if it's going to be lackluster.

Light Pollution Map

Light Pollution Map is an interactive map with overlays that display amounts of light pollution all around the world. It's perfect for finding locations away from civilization ideal for astrophotography.

The Photographer's Ephemeris

Primarily an app for iOS and Android (Android is missing a few features) "TPE is a tool to help you plan outdoor photography in natural light, especially landscape and urban scenes. It is a map-centric sun and moon calculator: see how the light will fall on the land, day or night, for any location on earth."

TPE shows when and and where the sun and moon rises and falls, among other handy information. Both versions now have a light pollution map as well, and the iOS version recently implemented a sun quality prediction overlay. Personally I prefer the web based services mentioned above, it's sometimes hard to look at a map on your phone.

If anyone has other services you use in your photography process, I'd love to hear about them!