In short: Use the planner before you book a location. Enter the place and the date, then read where the sun rises, sets and sits across the day. Plan the camera direction around that, and leave time for setup. A sun path shows position only, so check the weather and what blocks the sun, such as trees and buildings.
Our studio has no windows, skylights or roof lights, so the light in every studio shot is made on the grid. A location shoot is different. There, the sun is the main light, and where it sits on the day decides the shot. The planner helps you check that before you travel.
What the planner is for
Use it to see the sun's position at the times you will be filming. It answers three questions: which way the light comes from, when it reaches the subject, and whether a building, tree or hedge will throw the location into shade. It is a planning tool for a shot, not a forecast.
The planner also marks two windows for outdoor shoots: the low sun after sunrise and before sunset (gold on its diagram, ending when the sun is 6 degrees above the horizon) and the blue twilight either side (the sun 4 to 8 degrees below the horizon). Those are working conventions, not exact definitions, and you can change the three figures in the planner. They apply only to outdoor locations. The barn has no natural daylight, so they mean nothing for a studio day.
How to use it, step by step
- Pick the location. Enter its name as a label, then its latitude and longitude in degrees, with west longitudes as negative numbers. Use the exact place, not the nearest town.
- Enter the date of the shoot.
- Read the sun's path for the day, and note the times it rises, sets and sits at the angle you need. The planner shows UK local time, GMT or BST, and the compass direction of the sun in degrees from north.
- Place the camera or the subject so the light falls on the face from the side you want.
- Add setup time before the window you need, and a short margin in case a call runs late.
- Check the forecast for the same day, and keep a second date or a second location in mind.
A worked example
Imagine a two-person interview outdoors, with the light wanted from one side. The planner shows the sun coming in low from the left during the morning, then moving across to the right. The crew choose the morning window, face the subject towards the left, and set a fill reflector on the right to lift the shadows. Setup starts an hour before the window opens, so the light is not missed while the kit goes up.
The example uses no fixed times. The planner gives the times for your location and date, and you should read those, not a figure from this page.
Common mistakes
- Using a sun path for a date a long way from the shoot. The path changes across the year, so plan for the actual day.
- Forgetting trees, hedges and buildings. The planner shows the sun, not what sits between it and the lens.
- Using the wrong time zone. Summer time moves the clock by an hour, so check the times the planner shows against the local clock.
- Treating a clear sun as a sure thing. Cloud can take the light away at any point in the day.
- Booking a location before reading the sun for its direction. Walk the site at the time of day you plan to film.
If you are flying a drone as well as filming on the ground, plan the flight separately and check the current rules before you go. For the rest of the site work, the location recce checklist and the filming permissions guide cover what to check on the ground.
If a studio shot needs a daylight look, the light is built on the grid. The colour temperature and gel cheat sheet gives the colour temperatures and gels for matching daylight. Crew for a location or studio day can be booked through film crew hire.
Related guides
Questions we get asked
How do I plan the sun for an outdoor UK shoot?
Enter the location and the date into a sun path planner, read the sun's position across the times you need, and plan the camera direction and the start time around it. Check the weather separately.
Does a sun path planner tell me if it will be sunny?
No. It shows where the sun is, not whether cloud will cover it. Check a forecast for the day and keep a backup plan for an overcast shoot.
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