Photographing Sunrise?

[dfuccillo]

I plan to photograph sunrises at a local lake (Lake Massabesic - Manchester/Auburn NH) in the near future. I would like to do a silhouette.

I will be using Canon's EOS 10D, Canon 28-105 3.5-5.6 USM, Tripod. Probably use either F8 or F11 or even better both.

Anyone have any suggestions!!

Thanks in advance...

Dave Fuccillo

[scottbergerphoto]

When shooting a sunrise or sunset, I meter off the sky adjacent to the sun. Don't include the sun in your viewfinder when metering. Then recompose.
http://www.pbase.com/scottbergerphoto/image/25457140.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/scottbergerphoto/image/31607971.jpg

[griff2]

As Scott has said, and also play around with your white balance - for sunsets I use the "daylight" setting, since AWB tends make the sun look a little too pale.

Here's a picture I took with a G2 a couple of years ago:
http://www.griff2.co.uk/pictures/sunset_at_malia_beach.jpg
Note the halo effect around the Sun. The other thing to look out for when shooting into the Sun is lens flare.

[JereMIA]

When shooting a sunrise or sunset, I meter off the sky adjacent to the sun. Don't include the sun in your viewfinder when metering. Then recompose.

I was wondering if you would elaborate on this technique. I also read about it Bryan Petersons 'Understanding Exposure', but I cant get results like his! :rolleyes:

If I'm using my 20D to meter off the sky, what setting would you recommend? (Evaluative, partial or center weighted average to take my reading)

Also, is it okay to change my focal length (in order to get my reading without the sun) or must I keep the same focal length for the capture, and swing the camera to take my reading? (until the sun is no longer in the frame)

Thanks in advance for any help.

[mbze430]

Evaluative uses all the sensors within the "viewfinder", the Center weight uses the entire viewfinder, but exposure is meausred heavy towards the center, and partial can and could be linked to the AF point, but usually 5-12% of the AF point.

With scott's suggestions, don't put the sun in the viewfinder, that would be using the evaluative.

using the Partial or Spot you can include the sun, but you probably want to get it away from the AF points. This holds true even more for Center weight.

[intechpcx]

A couple thoughts from my experience with Sunsets:

1. Shoot RAW so you can fix the White Balance after the fact.
2. Take lots of shots bracketing your settings (try different aperture/shutter/ISO settings).
3. Pay attention to the histogram and washout indicators.
4. If you're using a telephoto, be very careful looking at the sun through the camera. Sunglasses and limited exposure would be important.
Hope that helps.

[2goldens]

I am glad I looked into this topic. Over the Memorial Day weekend I am going to be out on Lake Mead. It is just about 25 to 30 minutes out from Las Vegas, NV. I will be camping around the lake so I can get up early to get the great shots.
One of the best things is that I will only be about 30 to 40 minutes from home so I can look at all of the pictures I will be taking.

I have had trouble with early morning pictures also and the information I just read will be very helpful. I have read many books, but I am a person that has to learn by doing. Reading helps me to know where to set things but I have to do things my way and in my time.

Outdoor photography is my favorite thing to shoot. I go out at least once a week for an hour or two at different times and just shoot the same thing over and over for days. I am amazed at the difference in the picture at different times of the day. You wouldn’t think it is the same picture. By doing this I learn when the best times of the day are for that area. Now I have moved on to another part and will try my luck around that area.

The information that you all contribute each day is wonderful. To a person like me who is still learning after doing this for the past 7 years I think it is wonderful to have a resource like this.

Thanks for all of this wonderful information. I am going to try to put it to use. :D

[scottbergerphoto]

I was wondering if you would elaborate on this technique. I also read about it Bryan Petersons 'Understanding Exposure', but I cant get results like his! :rolleyes:



That's where I learned. Now you have to practice it. As to the kind of metering you use, it really doesn't matter as long as you follow the rules for each one. If you use evaluative, fill the viewfinder with the sky area you want to meter, if you use CW, fill the Central area and for partial the smaller partial area.
As to zooming out after you get the reading, that's how it's done. A zoom lens and a camera meter are a poor man's spot meter.

[Big_B]

I would agree with the advice given he so far and also suggest that you consider using a gradiated density filter. That will help you acheive a proper exposure of both the sky and the foreground (or you could use bracketing and combine in PS).

http://www.pbase.com/sam_blackie/image/41438323/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/sam_blackie/image/41438325/original.jpg

[rdenney]

Heed the advice about metering without the sun in the picture. The meter wants your image to be mid-gray. With the sun in the picture, the sky will be dark and the foreground darker. Without the sun in the view when metering, you get a mid-gray sky and a dark gray foreground. You can make them as dark as you want in Photoshop, but whatever blows out around the sun is gone forever, so it's a balancing trick. Push this decision off until print time if you can by shooting RAW and looking at the histogram. And RAW mode allows adjustment of white balance, which is almost always necessary. The sun is 5500 degrees K (unless right at the horizon) and when it's in the shot that's what AWB will pick. I usually end up with something like 6500 to warm it up considerably; to me the sun should look a little yellow or orange (and the closer to the horizon the more important this is).

In this image, the dark areas were actually not this dark in the original file. I wanted more sky detail, so I use an S-shaped Curves move to add contrast and bring down the shadow details. The attached image at the bottom is the original (resized and jpeg'd only--no processing).

http://www.rickdenney.com/images/pacific-city-beach-1-loresd.jpg

Rick "who would rather have the information to start with" Denney

[robertwgross]

Then, once you think you have the exposure details worked out, there is the issue of white balance.

Remember how your camera works and how it will interpret lighting in the scene depending on its white balance setting. You can fudge it one way or the other with the use of custom white balance settings. For instance, you can adjust it to be more red or more yellow.

---Bob Gross---

[kufel]

don't run out and spend your money on books and courses right away... It's all on the net...exposure, zones, spot, partial...use google and places like this, use search button, and use a lt of digital film to practice, a month from now you will know it all (almost...)