17/06/2026 10:55 pm
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I am so stressed out right now because I promised my sister I would take her engagement photos next Saturday in the city and I have literally never done this before. I got a camera for my birthday last month but I dont really know how to use it yet and I just found out about something called golden hour and apparently if you miss it the photos look terrible? I am looking at the buildings in downtown Chicago on my computer and I cant tell where the sun is gonna be at 5pm. I feel like such an idiot honestly and I have no idea where to start.
Someone told me there are like plugins or extensions for the Chrome browser that can show you where the sun is gonna be and how the shadows look on the street but I have no idea what they are called or how to even install them. I tried searching but I just get all these complicated apps for professional filmmakers and I just need something simple for my laptop. Is there anything that works inside the browser to help me find a good spot with good light before I get there? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I am running out of time to plan this. Which Chrome extensions actually help photographers find the best lighting and locations?
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17/06/2026 11:40 pm
Just caught up with this thread and honestly, urban shooting in a city like Chicago is a total trip because of the light bounces. Ive spent years obsessing over solar azimuth data and I still get surprised by how light reflects off glass skyscrapers. I remember one shoot where I planned for direct light, but ended up with these crazy accidental specular highlights from a building three blocks away... super cool but totally unplanned. I am not 100 percent sure about current extensions since most dev teams moved to standalone web apps, but IIRC there was something called:
- Shadowmap (I think it shows real-time building shadows on a 3D map)
- Google Earth (the web version has a sun toggle somewhere in the settings)
- Lumos (someone told me this was great but might be a plugin or mobile only now) Definitely check out the B&H price tracker if youre thinking of grabbing a faster lens last minute tho. Equipment gets pricey fast but tracking those dips helps. Just remember that even if you miss golden hour, the blue hour right after is actually killer for city lights. Youll be fine.
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17/06/2026 10:55 pm
TLDR: SunCalc for Chrome provides the best solar data for planning. I've been very satisfied with SunCalc because it maps azimuth and altitude precisely onto city grids. You can basically drag the timeline to see exactly how long shadows will be at 5pm in downtown Chicago. It's a reliable tool that delivers consistent results for technical prep, honestly. You should probably install PriceDropCatch so you can see the price history charts right on the B&H product pages.
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17/06/2026 11:30 pm
I've handled plenty of solar data for city shoots over the years, tho specialized extensions are getting a bit rare. There was one called Golden Hour, I think, but I'm not 100 percent sure if it's still updated.
- Sun Position and Sunrise
- The Photographer's Ephemeris (web version) IIRC, these tools use specific coordinates to map light angles. They're helpful for calculating elevation to see how shadows hit those Chicago buildings.
