[BarryE]

My thanks to you all for the information.

I intend to use this primarily on my iPhone, but also on my laptop when I'm planning scenes (my iPad is too old for a lot of newer apps, alas)




As a former soldier from the age of paper maps and compasses, I appreciate an analog version and all that can be done with it. I'm still pretty good at finding my place on a map and navigating to where I want to go. I generally check out the terrain of my destination before I leave the house. When I go Hiking, I nearly always have a map in my kit.

I was in the service at the advent of GPS, and having been to some pretty desolate and featureless parts of the world, I really appreciate the tech. Still, I find it satisfying to be able to orient myself to the terrain and know without a doubt where I am on the map. Of course, with SATNAV if I am not sure, I can shake a nearby tree and see it move in the display for a clue.


This all reminds me of a great video I watched yesterday about pre-planning a landscape shot, sometimes years in advance.
Lighting the Landscape - landscape photography top tips. - YouTube

I'm beginning to see the light. Ha!

I now appreciate if photographers want to plan to catch particular light on a mountain top, or rock formation, or open structure, then these apps might help. This (helpful) presentation did miss one key component with his 3 Ps - serendipity. A planned shot to this detail may capture the planned shot, but miss the unusual/interesting/unexpected light ot other times. An open mind, awareness, observation, quick reactions, flexibility and masses of patience, when underpinned by basic planning, is more likely to get me shots I'm happier with. I live in the soft, cloudy, green area of the south of England, which is not near any dramatic landscapes. I suppose my style of shooting may have evolved differently if I lived elsewhere.

I do now see some advantages of these apps for a style of shooting ...

[jatrax]

I don't use a sat nav when driving, as a paper map lets me see the bigger picture and tests my (useless) memory a little as I'm forced to memorise routes. Perhaps there's a connection ...?

There is definitely a connection. Since starting to use a calculator I can no longer do math in my head. My grandmother could run her finger down a column of 4 and 5 digit numbers and give you the sum without hesitating. Since starting to use GPS in the car I believe I would get lost going to the grocery without it. That part of mine brain has ossified. I do get out the paper map and study first if I am going off road hiking. In that case for some reason I do not trust the GPS. Well I guess better to say I don't trust the batteries.

[BarryE]

There is definitely a connection. Since starting to use a calculator I can no longer do math in my head. My grandmother could run her finger down a column of 4 and 5 digit numbers and give you the sum without hesitating. Since starting to use GPS in the car I believe I would get lost going to the grocery without it. That part of mine brain has ossified. I do get out the paper map and study first if I am going off road hiking. In that case for some reason I do not trust the GPS. Well I guess better to say I don't trust the batteries.

I do wonder when we'll notice the machines have taken over

[jatrax]

I do wonder when we'll notice the machines have taken over

My mother had the right idea. She would use a calculator to add up something but then do it in her head to check the calculator. Always. It drove me crazy that she would not trust the machine..............

---------- Post added 10-13-20 at 09:33 AM ----------

A planned shot to this detail may capture the planned shot, but miss the unusual/interesting/unexpected light ot other times. An open mind, awareness, observation, quick reactions, flexibility and masses of patience, when underpinned by basic planning, is more likely to get me shots I'm happier with.

All the planning in the world doesn't help if when you get there it is raining. But no planning means you never got there. I do the planning and hope for the best but take what comes at me. And usually it is the unexpected that turns into the best shot. But on the odd occasion when the planning comes right it is very satisfying to feel like you have some control over what you are doing.

[robgski]

I do get out the paper map and study first if I am going off road hiking.

I do the same, old habit but a good habit. I also like knowing alternate routes around bad traffic, I am not patient, and in certain areas, by the time the GPS notifies me of a jam, it's too late to turn off the road.

She would use a calculator to add up something but then do it in her head to check the calculator.

Impressive. I will do a lot of math in my head, or on paper, just to keep the cogitator fresh. I double check the work-related calculation with a calculator, the spreadsheet functions.

I do the planning and hope for the best but take what comes at me. And usually it is the unexpected that turns into the best shot.

I try to keep my eyes open and my creative mind ready for whatever I stumble across, but I have gotten up early, or hiked a distance, or returned to a place time and again to try and capture the image that I have pre-visualized. As the video points out, certain scenes are only likely to happen a few days out of the year.