PhotoSignal: Weather Alerts for Landscape and Seascape Photographers
Introduction I built PhotoSignal because I kept running into the same problem as a landscape photographer: too many apps to check to be there at the right time. A good photo often depends more on timing than on gear. Fog, rain clearing, tide level, moonrise, high clouds, horizon gaps, wind, waves, and light direction can all completely change a scene. I was checking multiple weather apps, tide tables, and moon calendars, then trying mentally match the conditions the locations. At first, I built a small version just for myself as a WordPress plugin on my photography site. It worked, but it was more of a private script than a proper product. Eventually, I rebuilt it from scratch as a standalone app. The Problem Landscape and seascape photographers spend a lot of time watching conditions. The hard part is not just checking whether it will rain or whether there will be clouds. The real challenge is understanding combinations of conditions: fog that may separate background layers rain clearing near sunrise or sunset high clouds with a gap near the horizon low tide revealing foreground patterns high tide creating wave drama moonrise or moonset near a useful time wind and wave conditions that are safe and workable Most weather apps are built for general use. They are good at telling you whether to bring an umbrella, but not necessarily whether a location may be worth photographing tomorrow morning. For example, many apps don't show high/mid/low clouds at all. Some photography weather tools try to solve this with scores. I wanted something different: fewer magic numbers, more transparency, and more control for the photographer. The Solution PhotoSignal lets photographers save locations, create custom alert rules, and get notified when useful conditions may be coming together. Instead of checking forecasts manually again and again, you can tell PhotoSignal what conditions you want to get notifications about. For example: high clouds above 50% around sunset low wind and high humidity around sunrise rain clearing before golden hour full moon near moonrise or moonset tide height within a useful range wave height above or below a threshold PhotoSignal then monitors the forecast and sends alerts before the opportunity window. It can also send cancellation notifications if the forecast changes and the conditions no longer match. Key Features Custom photography alerts: Create rules using weather, cloud, wind, rain, visibility, humidity, tide, wave, moon, and timing conditions. Smart checks: Use built-in calculated checks for common photography patterns such as fog potential, frost risk, rain clearing, and moonrise or moonset near key light windows. Sky Context: Look beyond a single point forecast. PhotoSignal can analyse nearby sky and cloud conditions by direction, including whether the sun-facing horizon may have a gap that lets light through. Useful timing windows: Build alerts around sunrise, sunset, day, night, or custom time windows. Upcoming, imminent, and cancellation notifications: Get notified around 24 hours and 3 hours before a possible opportunity, and again if the forecast stops matching. No black-box sunset scores: PhotoSignal shows the signals behind an opportunity instead of pretending it can guarantee a great photo. Conclusion PhotoSignal is built for photographers who want to spend less time checking forecasts and more time arriving when the scene has a chance to work. It will not make creative decisions for you, and it will not promise that every alert becomes a great photo. The goal is simpler: help you notice useful conditions early enough to act, and reduce mental load. Basic account is free. https://photosignal.app