Advice for sunrise shots

I plan on driving out to Montauk Point,NY in about a week. I plan on leaving from work at 3am and driving straight out. This would be my first real attempt at sunrise photography. Any advice on anything would be appreciated.

I have been attempting sunrise shots for a while now. Here are some of the things that I consider. Make sure you have some foreground interest, maybe the lighthouse? Sunrises come and go pretty fast. Make sure you have most of your camera settings in place before you get there. Check the weather forecast, no point making the long drive for a overcast morning (although being in Montauk is reward in itself). Also, this might be obvious, but make sure your battery is charged and you have your tripod with you. Last, but maybe the most important, have fun

A good starting middle exposure is just to the right/left of the sun without the sun in the view. Use a tripod & bracket M exposures so you can blend them together in PS.
Setting for sunsets

As mentioned above, tripod and bracket! Bracket more than you think as different exposures will have different effects. I'm very partial to ETTR, however, I have to be careful and don't take it too close to the edge as sunsets and sunrises benefit from some underexposure. Light will chance fast. BTW, I always shoot in full manual, and it's even more critical for sunsets/sunrises as the sun/shadows will fool the light meter and your exposures will be all over the place.

Thanks for all the tips. I got the last 4 hours of my shift covered and weather looks good, albeit chilly but I love it. So as of now, the trip is a go.

Definitely going to charge more batteries, clean the lenses and blow off the sensor to make sure all is good.

Arrive early, leave late

Often the best opportunities come well before or after sun up

2005GLI wrote in post #18177084
I plan on driving out to Montauk Point,NY in about a week. I plan on leaving from work at 3am and driving straight out. This would be my first real attempt at sunrise photography. Any advice on anything would be appreciated.

Scout and know the area before your shoot. Trying to find a comp in the dark can be a challenge.

Bcaps wrote in post #18182268
Scout and know the area before your shoot. Trying to find a comp in the dark can be a challenge.

+1

Bcaps wrote in post #18182268
Scout and know the area before your shoot. Trying to find a comp in the dark can be a challenge.

Yes, this is very important. You do not want to be running around when the sweet light starts. Find a good composition, get the lens you want to use, determine the aperture you need and then sit back waiting for the light.

My goal with any landscape outing is to bring back 1 image that I want to print large. Many times I will not change my composition the entire sunrise but get different images as the light changes.

You also might want to look into a nd filter if you need to slow down the shutter for a creamy water affect.

Also, once you're all set up and have taken several shots you're happy with; TURN AROUND. There are, frequently, shots with the rising light illuminating scenery/objects behind you that will also make for nice images.

Too late for the OP, but the immediate area around Montauk lighthouse is closed except on weekends. This includes some of the better vantage points. Photography can still be accomplished you'll just wish you could get into the fenced area.

By the way, rest rooms near the parking area are open.

The way I like to shoot sunrise/sunset... a lot of the advice here is spot on for what I pay attention to. Here's my details specific to the dynamic range a typical sunset/sunrise will give you and how I deal with it...

Tripod, always. (good sturdy tripod, weighted down if needed)
Always shoot in RAW.
I always shoot my landscapes at ISO 100.
Most of the time I shoot at f/8 with occasionally stopping down as far as f/16 if I am trying to get a starburst effect on the sun. But never stopped down smaller than f/16.
Set camera to AEB (auto exposure bracket)
Set the bracket shots quantity to 7 shots.
Set exposure such that the 7 shots will be +1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5 (basically an exposure compensation setting for under)
Make sure highlight warning/clipping is enabled.
Compose shot with looking through view finder and pay attention to my viewfinder level to make sure my horizontal is level.
Lock in the tripod head.
Turn on live view. (make sure live view exposure emulation setting is on).
By using live view you eliminate the slap up of the mirror thus eliminating one source of vibration.
Zoom in in live view (not with the lens just with the magnifier button) all the way in and into the area of where I need to focus on and use my back button focus to focus the shot. Preferable at or near the hyperfocal distance in the foreground (I know generally where this is from experience but there are tools/apps that can help, like photopills).
Zoom back out in live view so you see the whole composition once again.
(I don't need to switch my focus to manual mode because I have my camera to back button focus only and not on the shutter so it won't refocus when I push the shutter button or cable release.)
What I do next depends on the lens and shutter speed. If I am shooting my 16-35 I set my shutter to 2 second timer and push the shutter button and 7 shots fire off in the bracket.
If I am shooting at 100mm - 200mm focal length and the shutter is slower than 1/30th I do the same as listed above with my 16-35.
If I am shooting at 100 - 200mm at shutter is faster than 1/30th I set my shutter mode to one shot and use my cable release to fire off the 7 individual shots waiting briefly between each shot to give the shutter time to settle between shots.

I preview all the shots and make sure I have at least one shot with detail in the shadows and one shot with no 'blinkies' (highlight clipping warning which is a setting that must be enabled).
If I have at least those two shots within the bracket I am golden. If not I adjust accordingly up or down and shoot again.

In post process I use Lightroom. In lightroom if I find a shot with detail in the shadows and no 'blinkies/clipping' then I process that shot. Otherwise I use Lightroom HDR using one shot with details in the shadows and one shot with no clipping from the same bracketed shots. In HDR I keep the align on (doesn't hurt and doesnt affect processing time much on my machine). I do not the ghosting (set to none). This is for if you have movement in your bracket shots.
I click 'Merge' in the HDR GUI
I select the resulting HDR file in the LR Library module and take it into the develop module and process it from there. This HDR is a 'super-RAW' file that now contains all the data from all the files you merged so you should be able to process it with good quality in all the tones.

Please keep in mind, you may have only a few seconds to capture the light exactly as you'd like it. There are no "do overs." Be aware of what is happening around you.

Al

Snydremark wrote in post #18213166
Also, once you're all set up and have taken several shots you're happy with; TURN AROUND. There are, frequently, shots with the rising light illuminating scenery/objects behind you that will also make for nice images.

Always!

OP, how did the photos turn out? What would you do differently next time?