I bought The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography, and it has a very brief section in Appendix Two about sunrises/sunsets.
I also found this site: http://www.worldthroughthelens.com/ebook-sunset-photography.php.
I also did a search for "sunrise" here in the NPN forums and I saw not only a lot of posts with beautiful sunrises but a lot of other threads that look so interesting to me that I need to go back and read.
But I was wondering whether any of you, knowing what I tend to do right and what I tend to do wrong and what my equipment is, might have any tips for my first trip out to the beach early Saturday morning to try to capture some beach sunrise images.
The funny thing is that as I picture some of you reading this I can picture you thinking, "Wait! Whatever you do, don't do XYZ!" because you know I probably will do that.
Thank you so much for reading this, and thank you again for all your help. I fully intend to pay all this help back when I know enough to do that.
Posted by Buck Ward on October 26, 2010 at 3:57 PM
Hi barbara
I like to shoot sunrises (also moonrises). A clear sky is a good time to go for wildlife. For a good sunrise there needs to be clouds or haze in the sky. Overcast conditions usually will not give you a good sunrise. So, It's something in between and it's always different. I usually try to be at my chosen destination at least 30-40 minutes before sunrise. Actually I'm usually there an hour before sunrise The color and light can change fairly rapidly and often the best color happens long before the sun comes up.
For me, pictures of just sky don't get the job done. There needs to be something to add interest to the picture, a tree, a lighthouse, a bridge, a line of hills - something. In the predawn light it will most likely be in silhouette.
The same ideas apply to sunsets, but I am a morning person and it seems I always miss the sunset. In the morning, there are fewer people around, less traffic, fewer lights, and the wind often is calm which will let you get longer expsoures without trees or leaves moving a lot. Also when it's calm the water will be smoother, which gives nicer reflections.
Don't forget to look behind you. Sometimes all the drama happens in the opposite direction of the rising or setting sun.
Download the free software, The Photographer's Ephemeris. It will show you when and where the sun and moon rise and set
Most importantly, get out there and do it. You will get a feel for it.
Posted by Richard Wong on October 26, 2010 at 4:03 PM
The Cliff Notes version of shooting high contrast scenes like sunrise is put the camera on Matrix metering, slap on a 3-stop hard GND Singh-Ray filter and press the shutter. Bracket up to 2/3'rds of a stop either direction and you'll be on most of the time.
Posted by Larry Puckett on October 26, 2010 at 4:45 PM
Barbara--go out the day or evening before and scout the area for interesting compositions. In full daylight you can see things that won't be obvious or even visible in the pre-dawn darkness. Most serious photographers scout and plan their images days, weeks, even months in advance to take advantage of a specific setting. I also know folks who go out the evening before a sunrise shoot and actually set up their tripod for a given composition and then leave it there until pre-dawn when they return and mount the camera on it. Obviously this works better on a remote beach or mountaintop than it does on a busy beach where your equipment might get ripped off. Good luck--Larry
Posted by Mel Ladewig on October 27, 2010 at 12:32 PM
Like Larry, I like to scout the area before I want to take photos. But bring your camera with you then because you never know what might come up.
Also, consider whether you want to shoot into the sun or you want to shoot with the sun to your back. I live in a mountainous region, so I usually want the sun to light something in front of me rather than shoot directly into the sun, but rules are meant to be broken. Sunset at an east facing beach can give you an opportunity to capture anti-crepuscular rays or very pleasant pastel tones or brightly lit storm clouds. Sunrise on that same east facing beach can provide vibrant underlit clouds and energetic colors.
If you are shooting into the sunrise or sunset at the beach, you may want a filter called a reverse graduated neutral density filter. This has a dark line across the middle of the filter and it is used to keep the bright horizon from blowing out in these circumstances. This is an expensive filter as filters go. You can mitigate this by taking multiple exposures with + and - exposure compensation, then blending digitally.
Discussion
4 repliesI also found this site: http://www.worldthroughthelens.com/ebook-sunset-photography.php.
I also did a search for "sunrise" here in the NPN forums and I saw not only a lot of posts with beautiful sunrises but a lot of other threads that look so interesting to me that I need to go back and read.
But I was wondering whether any of you, knowing what I tend to do right and what I tend to do wrong and what my equipment is, might have any tips for my first trip out to the beach early Saturday morning to try to capture some beach sunrise images.
The funny thing is that as I picture some of you reading this I can picture you thinking, "Wait! Whatever you do, don't do XYZ!" because you know I probably will do that.
Thank you so much for reading this, and thank you again for all your help. I fully intend to pay all this help back when I know enough to do that.
I like to shoot sunrises (also moonrises). A clear sky is a good time to go for wildlife. For a good sunrise there needs to be clouds or haze in the sky. Overcast conditions usually will not give you a good sunrise. So, It's something in between and it's always different. I usually try to be at my chosen destination at least 30-40 minutes before sunrise. Actually I'm usually there an hour before sunrise The color and light can change fairly rapidly and often the best color happens long before the sun comes up.
For me, pictures of just sky don't get the job done. There needs to be something to add interest to the picture, a tree, a lighthouse, a bridge, a line of hills - something. In the predawn light it will most likely be in silhouette.
The same ideas apply to sunsets, but I am a morning person and it seems I always miss the sunset. In the morning, there are fewer people around, less traffic, fewer lights, and the wind often is calm which will let you get longer expsoures without trees or leaves moving a lot. Also when it's calm the water will be smoother, which gives nicer reflections.
Don't forget to look behind you. Sometimes all the drama happens in the opposite direction of the rising or setting sun.
Download the free software, The Photographer's Ephemeris. It will show you when and where the sun and moon rise and set
Most importantly, get out there and do it. You will get a feel for it.
Also, consider whether you want to shoot into the sun or you want to shoot with the sun to your back. I live in a mountainous region, so I usually want the sun to light something in front of me rather than shoot directly into the sun, but rules are meant to be broken. Sunset at an east facing beach can give you an opportunity to capture anti-crepuscular rays or very pleasant pastel tones or brightly lit storm clouds. Sunrise on that same east facing beach can provide vibrant underlit clouds and energetic colors.
If you are shooting into the sunrise or sunset at the beach, you may want a filter called a reverse graduated neutral density filter. This has a dark line across the middle of the filter and it is used to keep the bright horizon from blowing out in these circumstances. This is an expensive filter as filters go. You can mitigate this by taking multiple exposures with + and - exposure compensation, then blending digitally.