Sharper maps, faster terrain, more control. TPE 3D 1.5 makes planning your mountain and night photography more enjoyable than ever.
3D Light Visualization for Outdoor & Night Photographers
See exactly how natural light will fall on the land — day or night, anywhere on Earth. TPE 3D helps outdoor photographers plan their shots with realistic 3D terrain, sunlight, moonlight, and Milky Way simulation. Now with high-resolution map tiles, faster GPU-powered terrain, and improved controls for a smoother experience.
"TPE 3D predicted the light in the distance in the gap just before the right most hill very accurately." - OnLandscape Magazine
"This app has become an indispensable tool in my planning kit, I highly recommend it!" - David Kingham, Exploring Exposure
Watch a sunrise from the future in a rich simulation of sunlight, moonlight and starlight set against the actual topography of your planned shooting location.
Need to see when the arch of the Milky Way will rise between two mountain peaks? Need to see what time in the afternoon the valley will lose direct light in September? Watch the light unfold under clear skies hours, days, weeks or years before you're on location.
Visualize Light
- 3D terrain with realistic Sun, Moon, and Milky Way simulation
- Accurate moon phases rendered in-scene
- Symbolic Milky Way in Flying mode, high-resolution stars in Enhanced mode
- Ambient and overall lighting brightness tuned for clarity
- Night map colors automatically desaturated for legibility
Plan Your Shoot
- Continuous Sun, Moon, and Galactic Centre timeline with rise/set/transit events
- Daily and annual event lists
- Location search, decimal/DMS coordinate entry, and shared database with TPE
- Multiple map pins with saved “at pin” state remembered between sessions
- Tutorials linked directly to our YouTube channel
Control the View
- Fly smoothly around your scene, or zoom to focal-length equivalents
- Enhanced mode with maximum terrain and shadow detail
- Camera pitch, bearing, and direct elevation controls
- Reworked two-finger gestures for more precise navigation
- Higher default zoom near the camera in Enhanced mode (modern devices)
- High-resolution map tiles (512px) when not flying
- GPU-accelerated terrain loading for faster performance
If you like to plan your natural light photography to capture the photo opportunities others miss, TPE 3D is a must-have tool!
Note: TPE 3D is graphics-intensive — newer devices provide the best experience. Terrain resolution ~30m (1 arcsecond). Satellite maps and buildings are not included. Coverage 83°N–83°S. Internet connection required. Eclipse simulations not supported.
The app works great for visualization of how the light will fall. Honestly it’s only competitor is Google Earth Pro (desktop only) and this does a better job than that. The controls take a bit getting used to, and I still slide around sometimes, but it’s workable. The *only* reason this doesn’t get 5 stars is the amount of juice this app uses- on my iPhone 7 Plus it absolutely cranks and destroys the battery life; I pretty much can only use it plugged in if I don’t want to lose obscene percentages of battery quickly. However, newer phones may handle this better, I’m not able to test that unfortunately. Even with this issue I still love this app.
Working well on iPad Pro 11” - I use this like crazy
BikerJared
Great app for framing landscape shots and planning for light. Was very helpful on my Iceland trip. I’m unaware of another app that does this. On my iPad Pro, the two search buttons at bottom right bring up a grey screen that I can’t exit out of. I have to force close the app. This makes it so I can’t jump from Iceland back to the sites in the US that I’m shooting. The app is basically broken for me right now.NEW UPDATE: Its not network io. It’s screen orientation. When in portrait mode, the search pane is rendered off the screen. To see it, switch to landscape mode.UPDATE: I waited about five minutes and the saved places screen finally came up. What I may be seeing is the app waiting for data that never comes. When I tap those buttons now, the saved places screen comes up fast now. Suggest adding a spinner or a way to cancel the sync.UPDATE: I was able to verify the developer’s response. Things look good now. Been using the app a lot lately, (helped out a bunch on a trip last weekend to plan a Milky Way shoot). I’m very happy with the app. Thank you for the bug fixes!
Developer Response
Hi - the search issue that affected the 11” pro model was fixed in the 1.3.5 update. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Buggy and slow
setopete
Takes awhile to load the map even when on fast WiFi. When pinching to zoom out, once you hit the “flight ceiling” (which isn’t that high) it stops recognizing your pinch and thinks you’re pointing so the map starts moving around.what’s the point of tilt slider on the left if you can’t manually change your tilt? if you tap or press it goes to -25. On a second tap it goes to 0 and every subsequent tap takes you back and forth between these angles.The elevation slider minimizes too quickly when trying to do subtle changes. Say i want to lower my elevation 2 full swipes of the slider. I slide my finger from bottom to top. Then quickly move it to the bottom and begin to slide up again and the bar is in the process of minimizing so i’m moving the map not changing elevation. I have to wait for the bar to finish minimizing before i can begin swiping again. Unless you are frantically flicking your finger the bar minimizes before you get back to the bottom. I also tried using both my index fingers and it would still minimize almost instantaneously after i took 1 finger off my phone.The light tracking is nice and is what the app for.Bottom line: I expect more out of apps I pay for.
Great paired with Ephemeris and Transit
dkrowan1
I just got back from the Smoky Mountains and used 3D to fully visualize and plan shots down to the lens used and where to set up. Very accurate and just plain fun to use and even did some "arm chair" travel and photo set ups in the hotel at night to pass the time - great app and I love the integration with Ephemeris for smooth work flow. Well done!
Developer Response
Thanks! Great to hear you were able to get the shots you'd planned :)
v1.5.2
- Bug fixes
v1.5.1
- When at pin, tapping the "fly up" button moves the camera upwards while keeping the same direction of view (with an optional setting to cause the camera to move backward from the pin)
- Bearing and pitch gauges are now interactive - pan left/right to change compass bearing, up/down to change camera pitch
- Adds user setting to limit over-zooming maps
v1.5
This update makes TPE 3D smoother, sharper, and more reliable:
- Crisp high-resolution map tiles (512px) in enhanced mode on newer devices
- Faster GPU-powered terrain
- Better gesture controls for easier navigation
- Smarter handling of memory and thermal events
- Tutorials now on YouTube
- Plus bug fixes, UI polish, and behind-the-scenes updates
Please send your feedback and suggestions to support@photoephemeris.com - we'd love to hear from you! If you're enjoying TPE 3D, a review on the App Store is really helpful, and lets us keep improving the app.
Version 1.5.2
The developer, Crookneck Consulting LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
