The lower the sun, the longer the shadow. Enter a city, date and object height to see the sun’s elevation and shadow length all day — for photography, daylight and shading.
It is the object height times the shadow multiple, where the multiple is 1 ÷ tan(sun elevation). The closer the sun to the horizon, the larger the multiple and the longer the shadow.
At solar noon the sun is at its highest elevation, closest to overhead, so the shadow is shortest. That moment is the local solar noon, which is not necessarily 12:00 on the clock.
Azimuth is measured from true north at 0°, increasing clockwise (east 90°, south 180°, west 270°). The shadow points opposite the sun.
Related tools: Sun / Moon Path Map · Sunrise & Sunset · Day Length Changes