Serious photographers know light influences virtually all creative decisions. When you need to schedule an outdoor shoot, SunSked lets you pick the optimum time to get the results you need. Can't control the shooting schedule? With SunSked, you'll show up prepared for what the sun has to offer.

Upon opening SunSked, you will find yourself in the Main View.

Location name, latitude, and longitude are displayed on top. Below them are solar azimuth and elevation.

The time slider is initially set to the current time on your iPhone/iPod Touch, but you can move it back and forth to trace the path of the sun across the sky on the azimuth/elevation indicator. (The outer ring is the horizon, and the center is directly overhead. Circles are spaced 30° apart). Sunrise and Sunset occur when the center of the sun is at approximately -1° elevation, but trees, hills and buildings at the location of your shoot may dramatically affect illumination when the sun is low in the sky.

Want to know where the sun will be on any day, up to 2 weeks in the future? Just move the day slider. Once it is in position, move the time slider to the desired time for the day you have chosen.

To reset everything to current conditions, touch the "Refresh" button in the upper left-hand corner. SunSked will not refresh automatically.

SunSked must be calibrated for your location, or the location of your shoot (if different).

Click the search box at the top-right of the Main View, and enter your city. With over 20,000 cities in its on-board database, chances are you will find what you're looking for. If not, you can use a city up to 30 miles (50 km) away without significant error.

Just touch the proper table cell, and you're set.

If you are not near any city in the database, touch the "Locate" button in the Main View. If you are using an iPod Touch, location will be determined by the proximity of WiFi hotspots. If you are using an iPhone, location will be determined by the proximity of WiFi hotspots, cell phone tower triangulation, or GPS. Note that SunSked is not a navigation app, and the resulting latitude and longitude may be hundreds of yards (meters) or even several miles (kilometers) from your actual position. Attempting to achieve a more accurate solution would involve a longer calculation time and greater battery drain.

If you wish to check the accuracy of SunSked against an official source, try the following links:

NOAA Solar Position Calculator
The U.S. Naval Observatory

These websites may be difficult to use, even on a desktop computer, and do not automatically account for daylight savings time. In most circumstances, SunSked will produce azimuth and elevation results within about 1° of the official sources.

SunSked app icon is used under license.

World city database is from GeoNames, and used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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