Prior to making a trip to a new location, I spend a considerable amount of time scouting locations virtually using applications like Google Earth. When using Google Earth, you can zoom into a location until it switches to a street view, allowing you to get a sense for what it’s actually like to be standing there. You can rotate the canvas, providing a view in all directions, and as an added bonus, if you click the sun icon in the upper-left portion of the toolbar, it will run a simulation of how the sun will track across the sky and interplay with the topography of your location. You can quickly determine the optimal direction for shooting, as well as see how shadows will track across the landscape throughout the day.…
