I use this app all the time when I'm on the road in new locations to try to "guess" the best places to be for sunrise and sunsets. There are other apps out there that can tell you "when" to be there, but having a good idea of "where" to be is considerably way better. For example, I was driving past a small lake on a golf course in Santa Barbara one day, when I wondered how it would look with a Sunrise shot through the Palm trees silhouetting them on the water. I jumped on TPE, figured out in the middle of the day where exactly the sun would rise, where the trees would be in relation to that sunrise, and shot it the next morning. I could have gone out the next morning and "guessed", but since you only get about 90 seconds of "perfect light", that guessing can cost you the shot.I own this for my Mac as well as my phone. The Mac version was free, and I think it still is, but it was an easy decision to purchase for the iPhone... One stunning print sold is all it takes to "justify it"...

Having TPE in the toolbox is really important to me so I make the most of my photography time. Surely happenstance photography ‘happens’ and I like to have my camera with me on a walk about with the dogs or just being out, intentional photography is deliberate and planned. You are still going to get surprises for content but hope to capture photos and videos of landscape and cityscape with the best opportunity for them to make a memorable impression. I am very please with Skyfire and when I find a quiet morning in the winter with little wind and a good chance of color I am headed to the lake to see if some long exposure photography can bring out some amazing photos with mirror like reflections of the landscape and sky. So many opportunities to use it for both day and night photography, it really is a tool for the informed photographer.

Don't let the price turn you away.....this is an awesome app! I find myself spending hours running various scenarios for the sun/moon rising and setting. The Skyfire add-in is spot on. (Recent experience with Skyfire.....I was certain it would be a great sunset based on the way the sky looked at about 4pm. Skyfire was saying that it wouldn't be, which I was having a hard time believing. Sure enough, 45 min before sunset, a cloud bank appeared completely blocking out the sun and horizon. Once you trust it, it will save you a lot of time and disappointment.)One slight downside...there is so much information and flexibility built into the app that it can be a little overwhelming at first. The upside is that there are a number of videos available, using real life situations, to help get you started and explain some of the finer points.

I've been using TPE on my PC for a couple years now and find it very useful for planning photo shoots. So I downloaded the app for my new iPad expecting the same level of quality and in general I wasn't disappointed. My main regret is that the terrain map is not available as an option on the iPad but still is there on my PC version. I hope this will be implemented in a future version since the terrain map gives you a much better representation of topography than the satellite or hybrid version does. This is because the sun angle at different times can make it look like a valley is a mountain and vice versa whereas on the terrain map the shading is shown correctly and consistently. I don't mind too much paying for an app that I can get for free for a PC but it would be nice if it provided the same level of functionality! So for this reason I dropped my evaluation to 4 stars.

I got this 2 years ago after I drove to location for a sunset, only to find the sun was setting behind a hill, 15 minutes earlier than I expected, when I arrived. I use it religiously ever since, especially for sunset photos. Love it. I also do drone photography and with is where I think the app can be improved. It would be nice if I could set the red pin height up to 5000 FT AGL. [Note: Anything above 400’ AGL requires an FAA Waiver and a UAS NOTAM.] This would be helpful in two ways. First, for normal sunsets, it helps with the true placement of the drone to the landscape. Second, I like to take inverse sunset videos by starting low at the moment of sunset and climbing vertically cause the sun to rise. This can be tricky to time and a tool that would calculate the angles 50’ to 400’ AGL would assist in calculating start and rate of climb.

It is great to show you the elevation and “Flow” of the land. Also it has 4 types of maps showing this in Google & 2 using Apple maps. You can see what you are getting into, but you must remember the this is just a map form yesterday, new trails or changes are not shown. Also the view is of the elevation is great as long as they haven’t built anything or grasses/trees grown too much, which is not true for Charlotte,NC. All this being said, I related the program a 5 Star because it shows you so many points of view, the sun & moon flow in the sky at a specific time and a better location to at least start looking for a good spot to get the frame you want. This program is great for starting a plan from your house and then going out for the picture.