This App Told Me When to Be There — And It Worked

When it comes to landscape photography, weather dictates nearly every decision we make. I’ve often said that preparation is half the job, but even the best preparation can be undone by bad conditions. Like most photographers, I’ve spent hours checking multiple weather apps, comparing forecasts, cloud maps, and radar overlays before a shoot. Sometimes, they get it right. More often, they don’t. And there’s nothing more deflating than driving several hours only to be met with flat grey skies when you were hoping for shafts of golden light.

That’s where Photrus comes in — a new tool developed by Austrian photographer Christian Irmler. Frustrated by repeated let-downs from traditional forecasts, he designed something different: a system that works in reverse. Instead of checking if tomorrow looks good for shooting, you tell Photrus exactly what you want — your desired cloud cover, light direction, or visibility for a specific location — and it scans weather data continuously. When those conditions are predicted to align, you receive an email alert one to two days in advance.

This approach flips how we plan photography. It’s no longer about reacting to forecasts but about being proactive and letting the app find the window for you. I had been following Christian’s development of Photrus for a while, and when he added new features specific to seascape photography — including tide information — I decided it was time to test it in the field.

As a seascape photographer, the tide matters just as much as the light. Certain compositions rely on a low tide to reveal rock textures or reflections, while others depend on high tide to frame motion and depth. The new tide integration promised to bridge that gap, and Christian invited me to trial the update on location.

For the test, I chose Minard, a coastal location on the Dingle Peninsula that combines rocky foregrounds with the ruins of an old castle — a setting I’ve photographed many times. I entered my ideal parameters into Photrus: partial cloud cover, sunlight breaking through gaps, and a retreating tide. Two days later, an alert landed in my inbox. It predicted that between 1:45 and 2:15 p.m., I’d have the conditions I wanted.

I arrived an hour early, around 1 p.m., under an entirely overcast sky. I checked my usual app, Windy, which confirmed what I could already see — 99% cloud cover with no sign of clearing. If I’d relied on that alone, I likely would have packed up and left. But Photrus had told me to expect gaps in the clouds around 2 p.m., so I decided to stay.

At exactly 2 p.m., the sky began to break. Narrow streaks of light cut through, illuminating parts of the shoreline. It was fleeting — the kind of moment that lasts seconds but makes a shot. That short burst of light transformed what had been a dull, lifeless scene into something balanced and textured. Without that alert, I would have missed it completely.

The accuracy impressed me. It’s not foolproof — no weather system is — but Photrus gave me the kind of targeted information that normal apps don’t. It told me when to be ready, not just what the sky might look like.

During the session, I shot several compositions in vertical orientation. I wanted to use the rock formations as leading lines pulling toward the castle. In horizontal framing, the water gap on the left became too dominant, so portrait orientation felt more controlled. For motion in the water, I used shutter speeds between 0.3 and 0.5 seconds — long enough to show texture but short enough to maintain movement.

Because the tide was retreating, I had to move frequently to stay at the waterline, where the action was most dynamic. This is where Photrus’ new tide data came into play. Knowing when the tide would shift allowed me to plan my timing around it. The retreating waves filled the sand gaps, and every surge of water brought new energy to the frame. Before leaving, I took a final long exposure — 30 seconds — to soften the motion entirely and capture a quieter, more reflective image.

Photrus doesn’t remove the uncertainty from landscape photography, but it reduces wasted time. Instead of hoping for luck, it helps you anticipate opportunity. Over several uses, I’ve found it correct more often than not. Even when conditions don’t align perfectly, it’s close enough that you’re rarely standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Christian has made Photrus a subscription-based platform, and users who want to try it can use my referral code SPOONLEY20 to receive 20% extra credits. Those credits cover weather requests — each one corresponds to a search for your ideal setup.

For anyone serious about outdoor photography, especially those who travel for shoots, this kind of tool has real value. It’s not about replacing intuition or experience — it’s about refining timing and reducing wasted travel. As a landscape photographer, I’ve learned that the biggest challenge isn’t skill or gear, but knowing when to be on location.

Tools like Photrus don’t make the art easier, but they make it smarter. In a discipline where light changes by the second, that can make all the difference.