Planning light for London, United Kingdom
Solar noon
What is LightWindow
Plan your shoot around the light, before you leave the house
LightWindow tells you when the good light happens and where it comes from. Pick a city and it lays out the day in order: morning blue hour, sunrise, golden hour, solar noon, then the same windows in reverse as the sun goes down. Every time is shown in the local clock, so you know exactly when to be in position.
The cards above also carry a compass direction for sunrise, sunset and each golden and blue hour window. That tells you which way the light will fall, so you can scout an angle or a backdrop ahead of time instead of guessing once you arrive.
Tools for London
Shooting the light in London
At 51.5°N, London has one of the widest daylight swings of any major city outside the polar fringe: almost seventeen hours in late June, under eight in late December. Winter compensates photographers for the short days - the sun barely reaches 15° at midwinter noon, so the low, raking quality of golden hour stretches across much of the afternoon.
The default sky is overcast, which is its own tool: an enormous softbox for portraits, markets and architecture detail. When a clear evening does arrive, the Thames gives the city its sightlines - most of the classic views work along or across the river.
Where photographers go
Primrose Hill
The skyline panorama from the northwest; in winter the sun rises far enough south to light the view for much of the morning.
Waterloo Bridge
Stand mid-river: Westminster and the London Eye to the west for sunset, the City cluster to the east for dawn.
South Bank
Blue hour is the moment - riverside lamps, lit bridges and enough ambient sky to hold detail.
Greenwich Park
From the Royal Observatory hill, evening light falls across Canary Wharf and the river bend.
