Any tips on getting a decent sunrise

[JJthethird]

I'm fairly new to dSLR photography and would appreciate any help or comments on taking good shots of sunrise/sets. This is my first attempt.



Cheers, John.

[wulf]

I think I prefer the earlier shot and I reckon it might have been even better if you had another one taken a minute or two earlier.

The reason is that the sun is relatively bright compared to the rest of the sky and so will get overexposed very quickly.

Out of my sunrise and sunset images, I think the best ones have been where the sun hasn't featured directly at all (when it is below the skyline or not pointing the camera towards it) or when, like in the shot below, it has been subdued by clouds:



Wulf

[Saralonde]

Did you read this? http://digital-photography-school.co...s-and-sunsets/ It has some helpful ideas.

[JJthethird]

Thanks for the advice Wulf, I will bear it in mind next time.I see what you mean about leaving the sun out of the shot, your shot "Sunrise at O'Cebreiro" still has the colours that I am after without the overexposure, great shots by the way! I did take a shot a couple of minutes earlier but I hadnt gotten round to uploading it to Flickr.



Thanks again,

John.

[JJthethird]

Thanks for the link Saralonde, just had a quick look and it seems to echo some of the things Wulf said. I will go back and read it thoroughly after looking through the forums.

Cheers,
John.

[wulf]

Originally Posted by JJthethird

Thanks for the advice Wulf, I will bear it in mind next time.I see what you mean about leaving the sun out of the shot, your shot "Sunrise at O'Cebreiro" still has the colours that I am after without the overexposure, great shots by the way! I did take a shot a couple of minutes earlier but I hadnt gotten round to uploading it to Flickr.

That is a great photo. My only criticism there would be that it appears a touch grainy - I tend to keep my ISO setting at 200 (lowest available) and adjust aperture and shutter speed to get a reasonable exposure unless light levels are very low and I need extra sensitivity without adjusting those two settings any more.

Wulf

[JJthethird]

Thanks Wulf, I am finding this site is building my knowledge considerably already. Long may it continue!

Cheers again, John.

[janellen]

Hi guys, I would like to know how you can take a picture of a sunset or sunrise and not get all of the glare from the sun. I have a finepix 9500 digital camera and I've tried to experiment, but don't know how not to get the horrible overexposure :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrietta1/513227286/

This has been photoshop elemented to death to cut down the glare.

[wulf]

Don't point the camera directly at the sun. If you want to include the sun in the picture, either wait for it to sink low enough to look at with the naked eye or learn how to adjust the exposure settings on your camera. You may also find that the angle you hold the camera at has an impact on the kind of lens flare you get.

Oh... and it normally is best to keep the horizon level (just to prove I looked)

Wulf

[jocelynkl]

Have you tried metering without the sun then recomposing with the sun in?
I was just reading about this in the book understanding exposure.