Sunrise's

[azzajay77]

I'm after help shooting sunrise's. I went down to the beach all eager this morning to catch my first one. Colours were fantastic, i was snapping away adjusting settings as i went.. came home to find that most of my shots weren't usable.

I swear i tried AV settings TV settings, adjusting Shutter and Aperture in M mode and still wasn't successful in taking a half decent photo.

When the sun actually came up the light overpowered the shot. I ended up with a great bit flare/glow around the sun ... are that any tricks to this or ideal settings.

Here are a couple ..

Excuse the dust spots. I cleaned the lens but it appears i still have a problem somewhere on my mirror





I don't have the EXIF for these at the moment. I shot them in Raw and aren't sure how to view that info now that they've been converted to jpeg (Sorry i am new to this )

[navcom]

Actually, as frustrated as you are, you are not far from success! Your composition is pretty good....that is, you didn't just center the sun in the view finder and shoot away. You used the rule of thirds, which works well with sunrises. Here are a couple tips that might help...

First, you will need to control the brightness of the sun if you still want the rest of your image exposed properly. The best way to do this is with a graduated neutral density filter (ND grad). I use a Cokin "P"-style filter adapter and rectangular ND grad filters. These look like a rectangular piece of plastic where half is clear and then in the middle, it gradually darkens so that the top actually acts like sunglasses. You can see an example here.

Second, compositionally, you need to find something in the foreground to draw in the viewer. A sunrise is beautiful when you are there in person. Unfortunately, without anything else in the picture, it's just another sunrise to the viewer. You need to find something interesting that compliments the sunrise.

I was taught to think of a sunrise like frosting on a cake. Adding frosting to a cake makes it come alive. But most people don't like to eat frosting by itself. You need to find the cake first and use the sunrise or sunset as frosting.

Third, watch your horizons. Make sure they are level and also in either the top 1/3 or bottom 1/3 of the image. Try to resist the urge to make the horizon split the image right in half.

Hope that helps!

Oh BTW...those dust spots look like dust on your sensor. Pop up your mirror and use a rocket blower to blow off your sensor. That should solve your problem.

[cazacharias]

Try this, when composing the shot focus away from the sun, press the shutter half way to grab the autofocus & auto settings, then move the focus back to your composition with the sun in it , and take the picture.

This technique, if it works on your camera, allows you to get more detail in the foreground, because the sun doen't interfere with the camera's settings. (Backlit)

That is what I saw in your photos, the sun overpowering the cameras settings (too bright) so the foreground is too dark.

It might work for you, try it!!

[fletch]

Originally Posted by navcom

I was taught to think of a sunrise like frosting on a cake. Adding frosting to a cake makes it come alive. But most people don't like to eat frosting by itself. You need to find the cake first and use the sunrise or sunset as frosting.

Great analogy.

azzajay77:
Another think to bear in mind is that a lot of great sunrise/set photos are actually composits from two or more photos. One exposure for the sun, one for the shadow detail with the images merged in photoshop.

[rpcrowe]

Originally Posted by fletch

Great analogy.

azzajay77:
Another think to bear in mind is that a lot of great sunrise/set photos are actually composites from two or more photos. One exposure for the sun, one for the shadow detail with the images merged in photoshop.

Take it one stop further and shoot three shots, one over, one under and one right on. If your camera can accomplish this, it is best to have the shots 2 stops apart with subjects of this wide exposure range.

Use aperture priority and that way the camera will change shutter speeds (DOF will not change). On my Canon DSLR cameras, I can select "auto exposure bracketing" on the menu and then set how many stops I desire the exposure to be bracketed. Then set the camera for burst mode and it will shoot the required three shots and then stop.

It is best to use a tripod for this. Using a monopod can be done if you are careful but, hand-holding is pretty darn difficult.

It is easy to composite the three shots into a HDR (high dynamic range) image using Photoshop and I would expect that other image editing programs will have this capacity also.

[moujumhug]

Originally Posted by azzajay77

I'm after help shooting sunrise's. I went down to the beach all eager this morning to catch my first one. Colours were fantastic, i was snapping away adjusting settings as i went.. came home to find that most of my shots weren't usable.

I swear i tried AV settings TV settings, adjusting Shutter and Aperture in M mode and still wasn't successful in taking a half decent photo.

When the sun actually came up the light overpowered the shot. I ended up with a great bit flare/glow around the sun ... are that any tricks to this or ideal settings.

Here are a couple ..

Excuse the dust spots. I cleaned the lens but it appears i still have a problem somewhere on my mirror





I don't have the EXIF for these at the moment. I shot them in Raw and aren't sure how to view that info now that they've been converted to jpeg (Sorry i am new to this )

nice view

[WPCatfish]

Isn't it dangerous to be looking towards even a rising sun through a veiwfinder? Is it bad for the sensors as well?

Asking because I've just been offered the opportunity to overnight on the Chesapeake Bay and would kick myself for missing out on sunrise shots.

[fletch]

Originally Posted by Sjdj12995

Isn't it dangerous to be looking towards even a rising sun through a veiwfinder? Is it bad for the sensors as well?

Do you see hundreds of reports of people being blinded by sunsets shining though their viewfinder or cameras being damaged? No.

Do you see lots of photos of sunsets? Yes

I think you will be fine.

[ricklumpas]

Thanks a lot everyone. I guess an ND filter is next on my wish list before Christmas. I am happy to be reminded of composition tips from you guys.

[teaking]

I have never used one, but I would say the ND filter is usefull here if you get a meter reading from the red sky that should be about average write down your shutter speed, get another meter from the sea write down your shutter speed and then count the full stop differencies between the two this will be the type of ND filter you will need for example 2 stop. Set the camera for the foreground shot and apply the ND filter.

I think thats how it works lol. If not.... il get my coat! haha