We’ve all been there: a stunning landscape, but the weather forecast was wrong again. Traditional weather forecasts are simply not designed for photographers. But there is a new tool that changes the game.
There are two major problems with common weather forecasts: cheap or free weather services are calculated with “low-resolved weather data.” Imagine downsizing an image with 500 megapixels to just five megapixels, for instance, so your computer can handle it more easily in Lightroom. And when you are finished, you upscale it again to 500 megapixels. You could process an image that way, and you would save a lot of CPU power, but it doesn’t lead to the best possible result, right?
Now, the weather calculation of cheaper forecast services works exactly in that way. They save a lot of server power and time by downsizing real weather data and upscaling it after their calculations. The problem is that a lot of metrics are completely overlooked by that. The forecast results are okay for most people’s activities, but they are not for photographers.
In landscape photography, we want to know if the sky will turn red, if the clouds will get golden, if a pink stripe will occur on the horizon, or if the Milky Way will rise. We also want to know if there will be no distracting moonlight or clouds so that it will be visible and we can photograph it. Traditional weather forecasts don’t take these things into account. They tell us only rough estimations of the general weather, which could be right or wrong in the end.
Before I reveal a simple but powerful solution that will change your game, let’s look at another big problem when photographers use common weather forecasts: they don’t consider the weather around your photo spots. The final weather is just calculated for single points on our planet. But in landscape photography, we seldom photograph just points in the landscape, right? We need a clear light channel, hundreds of miles toward the horizon. So, we would need a weather service that looks broadly around our photo spots.
The Accurate Way
My name is Christian Irmler. I’m a landscape photographer from the Austrian Alps with comprehensive experience in weather forecasting for outdoor photography. Believe it or not, it took me more than 30 years to understand that perfect light is not a question of luck but is quite accurately predictable. Here’s how:
First of all, we need weather maps so we can look around our photo spots. Again, we want to know how the weather will be toward the horizon, not only at the point where we put our camera. Absolutely important here is that the maps are calculated with high-resolved weather data because we want reliable results.
When we break it down, by doing that, we make our own weather forecasts. Is that easy? No, unfortunately not. I promise you, I will show you a quick and simple alternative. But to understand how and why it works, let’s stick to weather maps for a moment:
I invested many years in bringing my maps-based forecasting to a practical level with much trial and error. Even when that helped me to be in the right place at the right time most of the time, I still overlooked the best weather phenomena because of one thing: if you want to get accurate results by using weather maps, you have to observe them multiple times a day for each of your photo spots. That is nothing you would like to do unless meteorology is your big passion—nothing I would recommend to a photographer. But there is an easy way to overcome that issue, and it is ideal for everyone who owns a camera.
The Game-Changer
Nothing is more accurate than using weather maps, calculated by high-resolution data. We just need a way to automate the observation process. And that is possible by a new weather tool I developed over the past years. It is called “Photrus.”
This is quite a clever weather assistant, especially for photographers, that observes high-resolved weather data around your photo spots automatically, 24 hours a day, and sends you a notification when it finds spectacular weather phenomena occurring there. No chance of overlooking the perfect light anymore. And it works worldwide!
Phenomena, Not Basic Weather!
We are not talking about whether it will get cloudy or sunny. We are talking about real photography weather phenomena: rainbows, fire skies, gappy clouds creating light rays breaking through, games between light and shadow in the landscape, sunrises and sunsets with dramatic clouds, monster waves, auroras, the Milky Way, and much more. Right now, as I write this article, Photrus already supports 30 different weather phenomena, and the list is growing. It considers everything an outdoor photographer would dream of, all the knowledge I collected in decades of photographing outdoor scenes, enhanced and leveraged by AI.
And the best part is that Photrus doesn’t just check if the weather phenomena are going to occur; it also considers if they are visible, based on the amount of clouds and the quality of the atmosphere. It simply “thinks” about everything an experienced photographer would consider in their planning. For instance, the phenomenon “fast transitions” only triggers if the type and amount of clouds lead to a dramatic sky worth photographing. When we break it down, we are talking about getting notified about world-class conditions!
Easy To Use
You don’t need to read weather maps! Photrus handles that complicated part for you so it is really super easy to use—even without any prior knowledge:
Just set a pin on a map for each of your photo spots and define the weather phenomena you want to see there. Photrus will send you an email a few days before there is a match.
Photrus is a web app that runs on your phone as well as in a normal internet browser. It notifies you only when it is really sure that the particular weather phenomenon is going to occur. So, if you just go out for photography when you get an alert from Photrus, you will get perfect light almost every time you are out with your camera. And this is really easy, right?
But there is even more Photrus takes into account. In fact, it is the perfect tool for anyone who photographs landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, astro, wildlife, or travel. So, for the whole description, watch the above-linked video and check this clever photography weather app yourself: www.photrus.com.
"There are two major problems with common weather forecasts: cheap or free weather services are calculated with “low-resolved weather data.”
No. Any serious weather service gets its data and analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service. It's the best information available, it's free, and if you search for a local weather source, that's where they get their infotrmation from.
As far as a service that says it can predict rainbows, yeah, good luck with that...
Hi Mark,
We are mixing two things here: raw weather data and models. Each weather map out there is calculated by using a grid, which reflects the resolution of the weather data. In a grid of 50 to 50 miles, for instance the weather data gets averaged in a cluster of these 50 to 50 miles in the model calculation, which doesn't lead to an accurate results as using a grid of 1 by 1 miles, for instance. But it saves a lot of server power to calculate the weather model. You find that grid information usually in higher-resolved weather maps.
It is not possible to predict single rainbows with their exact position, of course. But it is possible to predict the circumstances that lead to rainbows, so that it gets indeed very likely to catch a rainbow in the end.
Nice greetings,
Christian
How is an "article" just a marketing ploy to garner suckers for yet another subscription service? Weather prediction technologies all over the world are different and of differing capability. Ask yourself how often your local weather service gets their prediction wrong and then ask yourself if it is even possible for the app named in this "article" - which services a global audience, no less - can do better. Weather patterns are extremely complicated at the local level, with many influencers. No amount of coding is going to solve that at this point in our evolution. These are the Top 10 countries whose weather is unpredictable and therefore hardest to forecast: New Zealand, , Mongolia, China, Greenland, Kazakhstan, United States, Indonesia, Canada, Russia, Colombia. If you live in one of these countries, and there's a good chance you do, you already know that no app will come close to revolutionizing your weather awareness. You already know that local expertise and modern technologies fail often.
Hi Kevin,
Yes, that is absolutely true: traditional weather apps fail quite often. That was one of the main reasons for developing this app, which has a completely different approach. I also agree that there are big differences in the weather behaviour all over the world. This is why the app doesn't calculate the raw weather at zero, it collaborates with the best local weather providers all over the world. It uses the most accurate raw data of every place and based on that it calculates photography weather. The development started already in 2019 and there were many photographers all over the world involved in a big testing phase. It works world-wide, also in the countries you named, and it is a big advantage for many outdoor photographers. There are already some more weather phenomena in a long-term testing phase, which will roll out within the next months.
By the way, this app wasn't developed to be sold. That was not the initial idea. It was just developed as a helper for my own photography. To save time and to get more accurate results. As I realized the big advantage, it had been quite selfish not to share it with others. I would offer it free of charge, if that would be possible. But that is not possible.
Nice greetings,
Christian
I don't use technology. I use my observation. I do check the humidity. I also checked the wind direction and I checked the cloud formation at 3 o'clock. I usually finish work at 4 o'clock and I've got usually two or three hours to head out and get some shots I'm always looking at the Windy app to work out where the wind is coming from because that generally will dictate largely where I live where the weather will come from and then I follow the light and I know that seems like a strange thing but I actually look to see where the pockets of clouds are breaking up. I live on the south coast of Western Australia and it's typically very cloudy a lot of the time it's a little bit like UK weather to be honest but I've trusted my instincts to read the weather based on wind direction humidity and clouds and I'm usually not wrong. This photo I took the other day was based on my calculation that the humidity was high so the clouds would not descend downwards and it would not rain and the cloud was sitting just above the ocean. In a past life I used to work on fishing boat as a young man and that was all about reading the weather because we didn't have radars when I was a young kid. We just had an old radio that told us the weather forecast and our observation. I don't like using apps to work out the weather no thanks I'm old school.
Hi Nev, funny that you wrote that, because Photrus is even perfect for people who don't like to use weather apps :) It is a weather alert system for photography weather phenomena.
The things you do are definitely a good starting point. I did also things like that in my beginnings, then I went much more into detail, as weather maps allowed me also to look around my photo spots, to consider free light channels in a completely overcast situation, for instance, I considered more and more metrics than just basic metrics and by that I was able to predict quite accurate, which weather phenomena was going to occur. That took me hours a day, but I got quite accurate results.
When we break it down, what I did, actually is: I built weather models for spectacular phenomena. Photrus is doing exactly the same and notifies me when it finds phenomena. An automatism for all the work I did every day, with the only difference, that it is doing that even more accurately, because it considers even more metrics, and it can observe more photo spots for me, as it can put more time into its observation processes than me :) I get alerts about red sky, golden clouds, rainbows, Milky Way, and much more every day. It is not comparable with other weather apps, it is something different.
But great to hear that you have a working solution. Great image, by the way!
Nice greetings,
Christian
I think also the other thing is to just trust your gut a little bit and also work with the weather that you have. You can't always go to the ideal spot now I'm very lucky because I know my local area really well my local area is about a 200 km radius and I can pretty much pick the weather from the wind and the humidity but yeah it does raise the question about how you can use technology. I'm not anti-technology for some people I just don't like using them. Have a great Christmas.
Of course. What we should not forget is that photography is art. And the approach is elementary in art. There are photographers out there who don't edit their photos. There are some who still photograph with film, although modern gear offers so many advantages. Are they wrong? No! That is the fantastic thing in art, that the artist can completely decide on his personal approach. That is part of the integrity of the artist.
I'm pretty sure there are also photographers out there who don't plan at all in general. There is no right or wrong. Important is just that the artist is happy with his decisions.
Photrus is meant for photographers who want to take advantage of being in the right place at the right time. No one is forced to use that advantage. And adapting someone's photography to the weather is in general a skill every outdoor photographer should learn. But in my experience, that comes automatically with the years.
Merry Christmas,
Christian
I am sorry but I have a whole page on my phone and pad. On my I pad is "Clear Outside" gives cloud cover even low fog for most anywhere in the world, also Astroweather. Also on a saved browser page on my Galaxy Phone it is there also. Weather Pro also on the Ipad. But on both Wunderground and weather Channel.
Lastly for planning any day in any month just about anywhere is Planit PRO where you can select tides and it will get a reading from the nearest station along most oceans. This like when you travel and you are doing Astro Milky Way's along on a beach with say driftwood or some other foreground. At the bottom in a sine wave style is the high and low of it to mid tide and again where the moon or sun are up or down. Have you ever planned on a place near the ocean (you got the whole east, west and gulf and great lakes. when you arrive you grab a paper or go to the closest fish supply store and read the tide chart, IF you can make heads or tails of when high and low tide is. Just as an example Most of us know you have 5 days before and after the new moon and AH! before during March and April you will get a crescent moon under the MW. The thing i learned the hard way was I went to my site and it was high tide, On the way back I saw the moon rise above the water and looking at the tide it was going out. Went back and had a whole morning till blue hour with the MW high and a moon below with the sun glow on the horizon. that is when i discovered the Planit Pro. Food for thought when the moon rises the tide goes out. A storm was rolling in the night of the new moon so i got lesson from nature. Planning and seeing in your mind before is a good thing and having a clean beach with no foot prints even better. Also if you have watch with the biometric pressure you can learn about fog lifting or falling!
1st is the last capture, of the many, that morning!
The 2nd image is the one I captured on the way back to my hotel the night nature taught me a lesson!
3rd is just getting a new foreground on the same island different night all before the new moon.
Hi Edwin, thank you for your insights! These apps are all great and they all do what they were designed for. But Photrus goes even some steps further here:
Clear outside, for instance, gives you a lot of metrics for one single point in the landscape. You know that there will be 100% low-level and 100% mid-level clouds, for instance, above your subject. But do you also know if there is a clear light channel towards the horizon to get the sunlight through? But exactly situations like that can lead to really powerful images. A dramatic sky, completely covered, but the light breaks through from the side. Photrus considers the weather hundreds of miles around your photo spots to find out if the weather will get spectacular.
And there are also a lot of apps out there that are able to predict the Milkyway rise, for instance. But Photrus considers also the cloud coverage, how reflective the landscape is, the moon fill, its rise and set times, and also here it considers the weather hundreds of miles towards the Milkyway position, just to make sure that there are no clouds blocking and that the amount of haze and humidity is on a healthy level that you are really able to photograph it.
I also used a lot of apps in the past, but finally, I found out that making my own weather by using weather maps led to the most accurate results. There are really worlds between. Bu it is time-consuming :)
But Photrus is even better than that: it observes the weather for you. It is like a friend who emails you when it finds out that there will be spectacular photography weather on Sonday, for instance. Something like April weather, blue hour, golden clouds, fire skies, different sort of atmospheric conditions, astro weather, seascape weather, and much more.
The approach is simply different to each other app. It is not you who has to plan the weather. Photrus plans the weather for you and notifies you :) It is simply effortless.
However, thank you for your insights and these are some great images, by the way!
Nice greetings,
Christian
To the critics, you all sound like experienced weather observers, but I am not and would appreciate the chance to use an app that reduced the amount of time I have to spend on research
Hi Richard, thank you for your comment! Photrus is indeed meant for photographers who simply want to take advantage of getting notified about ideal conditions. But that is not limited to such who are not experienced with weather forecasting. I'm also using it in my productive photography, although I engaged quite a lot with the weather, and that for many years. The time advantage is one positive thing, but it is also much faster than me, which results in many more options for my photography than I would be able to check every day. When we break it down, Photrus is for every photographer who is interested in being in the right place at the right time, independent of their experiences in weather planning.
Have a great Sunday and Merry Christmas,
Christian
I'm so glad I don't do landscape photography—it comes with its own challenges! All these subscription services, though, are starting to feel like overkill. Honestly, does all this technology really make chasing the "perfect shot" any better? Picture this: you check an old-school weather forecast, head out to your spot, and surprise, the forecast is way off. But what's the harm in that? You're outdoors, you've had a nice hike, and you're surrounded by beautiful scenery. It’s a win-win, really. Sometimes, the best moments aren’t planned—they’re simply enjoyed. I wish everybody a Happy photoshoot.
Hi Rene, the time out there, this tight connection, is indeed a very important factor in landscape photography. I would even say it is the requirement for understanding a location and ultimately to photograph the soul of a place, which can lead to really meaningful images. But however, I think you will agree that also light is an essential element in photography in general. We can't set the light in outdoor scenes like in a studio. That's not possible. Setting the light in landscape photography means mastering the weather. And we should not forget that the weather is even an element of a landscape composition. An important one, as it is one of the strongest storytelling features. And fine art photography is all about storytelling.
Is it cheating to use technology for photography? I remember back 20 years when a lot of people were saying that about editing digital images.
Photrus is a tool that automats the observation process of weather maps. In my ethic understanding of landscape photography it is not cheating, it is just a huge time saver. Why shouldn't we prefer to go out for photography when we know there is a much higher chance to catch a rainbow or a light ray, or a fire sky, or whatever?
Is it cheating to set the light in a studio?
Landscape photography is a fantastic genre of photography. Tools like Photrus help us to boost the collctive quality of images. They don't reduce the user experience out in the field at all, the tight connection to mother nature. Landscape photography is always a win. Returning home with a strong image is the cherry on top. But what's wrong with loving cherries?
Merry Christmas,
Christian
Maybe also some words to the costs: doing landscape photography costs money. You need fuel to drive to a location, you have to pay the parking ticket, maybe there is even a national park fee or you have to book a room. A failed photo day means returning there again, means additional costs
Photrus helps landscape photographers to save money as it is simply cheaper than just one failed photo day.
Sure, it is a win to be out in nature. But why not being out in nature when the chance is much higher to get a strong image?
Have you ever done a on location shoot? Bringing in heavy gear, model(s), assistants, snacks to keep your people happy, paying for access to a location, permit etc. I'll take your fuel cost and parking ticket anytime ;) Merry Christmas
Curious if your app can discern conditions for "low fog" found here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Low fog makes for some amazing photos of the Golden Gate Bridge where all you can see are the two vertical support towers above the fog. I've managed to take a few shots in these conditions but I'm looking for an app that can notify me in advance.
Hi Steve, yes, that is basically possible. Just select fog and mist for the location. If you get a fog alert, just check if you also got a mist alert. If not, there is just ground fog.
It is not possible to predict the final height of the fog exactly, of course. But if I would like to take a photograph of the golden gate bridge, I would do it that way.
One thing maybe: the premium plan is even more accurate here, as it considers relative pressure hundreds of miles around. The standard plan is only using the traditional highs and lows. That works and leads already to accurate results, but the premium considers both, which makes it even more accurate. It also considers fringe situations.
In general: if there are any specific requirements, please feel free to contact me. We are really interested to cover everything an outdoor photographer would dream about. There got a lot of really useful features implemented in that way.
Thanks a lot for your interest and Merry Christmas,
Christian
Thanks for this Christian. This looks really interesting in theory and I trust it works at least to some degree. My issue is with your mysterious pricing. Maybe I am just being dumb but I don't see anything that tells me the value or the cost of a "credit." Can you explain that better for me?
What does 1 credit accomplish for me? What does one credit cost? Maybe some use cases would help.
Thanks in advance.