Two Sunrises

[slejhamer]

Sunrise at Virginia Beach (USA). The morning haze was rapidly burning off - a few minutes earlier I didn't think we'd even see the sun.

Your thoughts on cropping, composition, etc.?

Also, how does one avoid the star and/or halo effect that results from shooting directly at the sun?

#1:
http://members.cox.net/mschlesinger/sunrise1.jpg
#2:
http://members.cox.net/mschlesinger/sunrise2.jpg

[maple]

Did you copy-and-paste the bird in the sky, or was it just circling around endlessly begging to be photographed?! ;)

I think the way to get around the halo is to put on some sort of sun filter? I just can't remember what it's called because I have never played around with filters, nor read about any... a UV filter it is??

I love the orange glow of the first shot, but am in love with the reflection and gentle, surreal waves of the second!!

[Conk]

Ok Mitch, I'm going to take a wild stab at this one. I'm thinking that because, like you said, there was a haze burning off that possibly there was still a tiny bit in the air that is hard to detect by the eye. Try and take the same shot into the sun at sunset or sunrise and see if you get the same results when there is no haze. Sunset would probably be best as it is less likely to be a haze.
BTW, I like the reminence of cloud in the first photo.

[eland]

Hi Mitch

These are two lovely shots. I'd be very proud to have taken them ..... or even one of them !

If I have reservations it is not in the images, which are lovely and airy
with a great feeling of space.

I'm not sure that I like the drop shadow though.
The dark shadow against the dark sky near the top
unbalances things a bit.
Also against the dark foreground, I don't care for the dark drop shadow.

The pics are so good that they don't need this little aid.

I think the star effect comes from pointing the lens at the light source combined with a very small aperture....F22 or F16.

You'll obtain the same effect WITHOUT a star filter if
you take street lights at night with the lens closed down.

All you can do now is live with the stars as they are not unattractive.
Otherwise some very judicious use of the smudge tool
will round things off.

Either way, these are two beautiful images.

Kind regards
eland

[Leighow]

MITCH

I pick # 1 . Here, the whispy clouds just help to balance the otherwise large spaces of graduated color.As for the star effect, I love it.

On an obliquely related theme, I recall railroad buffs shooting nightime film shots of old steam engines -- their engine light abaze. And as they photographed, they prayed some black magic that would (and usually did) burn a white wedge of headlight onto the otherwise darkened film.

Lovely KISS shot.

HOWIE

[slejhamer]

Thank you all for replying. These two were the best of several that I took over the course of a few minutes. The haze was burning off and the sun was already well above the horizon, so the graduated colors quickly went away. Lucky shots from our hotel balcony!

I was worried that #1 felt a bit "heavy" in the lower left, as I was't sure the clouds did enough to balance the left-of-center sun and bird. #2 is better balanced to my untrained eye, but I do miss those clouds...

MAPLE: The gulls kept flying by, sometimes solo, sometimes in pairs, but always heading south. So, my guess is that these are different birds. :)

Cheers,

[slejhamer]

eland wrote:
The dark shadow against the dark sky near the top
unbalances things a bit.

Hal,
I see your point on the drop shadow. It actually crossed my mind, very fleetingly as I was running the PS action, that the shadow didn't seem very complementary with these pics. Perhaps a simple white border would have been better? I will keep this in mind next time.


eland wrote:
I think the star effect comes from pointing the lens at the light source combined with a very small aperture....F22 or F16.


Ah, yes, I believe I've heard that before. My setting was at the G1's maximum of f8, but I'm fairly certain that that equates to a smaller SLR equivalent. Yet another shooting tip to remember...

Thanks again,

[cgesteland]

Hey Mitch,

Just out of curiosity, since the colors are muted, have you tried converting the shots to B&W just to see? I like the composition, you have a good sense of sky. I just wonder whether the white sun would contrast nicely with the greys the overall pic would take on...

Just a thought. :)

[slejhamer]

Hi Clio; I tried your suggestion but thought it looked a bit oppressive; just overexposed white against fairly dull gray. Maybe if there had been big puffy contrasty clouds... However, converting the grayscale to a warm orange duotone gave a nice effect. :)


cgesteland wrote:
have you tried converting the shots to B&W just to see?

[mjmcgarry]

Number one is my favorite too. The star effect on the sun is less obtrusive. The sun is still round and the star effect simply looks like sun rays. In picture two the sun appears to be distorted. I also like the clouds in number one. They do add a nice touch.

- Michael

[slejhamer]

Thanks Michael. I'm still laughing at your "fechez la vache" comment on eland's post; hadn't heard that in a long time. Thinking about pasting a silhouetted flying cow onto one of the above images just to prove your point. :D