Planning light for Seattle, United States
Morning blue hour
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 Seattle
Shooting the light in Seattle
Seattle’s summers are a photographer’s reward for the rest of the year: nearly sixteen hours of daylight around the solstice, with golden hour starting after 8:30 p.m. and long, slow twilights over Puget Sound. From October to March the city runs gray and soft - flat for skylines, excellent for forests, markets and rain-slicked street work.
The wildcard is Mount Rainier. On clear days ("the mountain is out"), it anchors skyline shots from the north and catches pink alpenglow after the city has already fallen into shadow.
Where photographers go
Kerry Park
The postcard view: downtown, the Space Needle and - on clear days - Rainier behind, best in evening sidelight and blue hour.
Gas Works Park
The skyline across Lake Union, with rusted ironwork foregrounds; sunset falls to the right of frame.
Alki Beach & Duwamish Head
The skyline across Elliott Bay at dawn, and Puget Sound sunsets from West Seattle’s western shore.
Discovery Park
West Point Lighthouse under a Sound sunset, with the Olympics on the horizon.
