Advice for early morning ocean shots?

I want to try some long exposure shots this coming weekend, I will be staying 2 nights in Pacific Grove CA. It is all coast line.I thought I'd get up before the sun and of course try out the evening light. I wondered if anyone had any tips for shooting these kind of shots. Best aperture? Any tips will be much appreciated.

-BG

I don't know that there's one best aperture. I would experiment. Start before dawn and use a tripod. Use various shutter speeds and apertures. By using a tripod, you can keep the ISO low and have less noise.

Mark

beachgirl.. i'm so glad that you started this thread. we're going to pacific grove, monterey, carmel, and big sur during this coming labor day weekend. so i'm excited to shoot photos with my 30D but at the same time nervous as to which would be the best trick in the book on how to shot it.

so if anyone could help beachgirl.. i'd be glad to listen in and learn from you all.

EDIT: beachgirl.. i just visited your smugsmug... great gallery you have there!! are you sure you need help in choosing which exposure to use??

My best advice is to make sure you know when the sky will start to get light. I'd hate the idea of getting up early to take photos and then finding out I wasn't early enough!

There are various definitions of twilight - see for example Wikipedia: Twilight - but for photographic purposes civil twilight is the most relevant. There's a very good online calculator, whiuch can give you twilight times as well as sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, etc., here: www.sunrisesunset.com.

I'd start at F8/ISO100/Av mode. Bracket the exposures so you can do HDR if you want to. Sometimes 2 stops of bracketing isn't enough with high contrast scenes.

To add, make sure that you have a perfectly clean lens. A smuge will distort the sun's rays.

Stacie

Rui, I know what you mean, I get caught up in shooting and forget all the important stuff. I just got my new tripod(190MF4+488RC2 ball head) and can't wait to try it out. And THANKS for the nice words, you are really to nice . I see we are almost neighbors too.
Best Regards
BG

Thank you Mark, I'm taking notes

StewartR wrote:
My best advice is to make sure you know when the sky will start to get light. I'd hate the idea of getting up early to take photos and then finding out I wasn't early enough!

There are various definitions of twilight - see for example Wikipedia: Twilight - but for photographic purposes civil twilight is the most relevant. There's a very good online calculator, whiuch can give you twilight times as well as sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, etc., here: [URL="http://www.sunri​sesunset.com."]www.sun​risesunset.com.

Wow stewartR, this is very helpful. Big THANKS.

Thank You Tim, I'd love to try HDR.

Thanks staciecd, yes I need to go get some cleaning supplies.Added to my list

beachgirl wrote:
Rui, I know what you mean, I get caught up in shooting and forget all the important stuff. I just got my new tripod(190MF4+488RC2 ball head) and can't wait to try it out. And THANKS for the nice words, you are really to nice . I see we are almost neighbors too.
Best Regards
BG

yup yup... that makes you and me both! it's like i read all the advise here on POTN and then when i'm there.. my mind goes blank and end up experimenting the learning curve all over again. i guess that's why RAW is my best friend right now.. haha.

but i really enjoyed your gallery.. great photos you have there. i love the city! i use to stay up there during the weekend and wake up early in the morning just to drink coffee at a local coffee shop in SF. but now i'm in SJ.. so it's nota fun. haha

my problem with my 30D is that when i set it to evaluative and AWB.. sometimes when those red dots blink it's off the subject.. and thus.. the photo isn't as focused as i want. any sugguestion? perhaps i should just use SPOT metering? or perhaps use evaluative and then manual set the focus point on the subect using the multicontroller nobbie?

I like to go out and do some research before shooting. Go the night or day before and scope it out making sure to write down what you like including its location. Get there early so that you have time to double and triple check everything or fix something that might be malfunctioning. This made my very first night landscape attempt much easier. I already had the idea of what I wanted to shoot and from what angle with an idea of what settings I needed.

This was my very first shot that day (and my first attempt at any landscape shots).

18mm, ISO100, f/11, 10 seconds

Mike.. that's a BEAUT@!!!!!

Mike that is beautiful!! I will be there 2 days and I go there a lot anyway. I have a vision in my head, Long exposure, ocean/shoreline, early morning(5:30am,before sun up.)Sunrise is 6:28am.I just got my (190MF4+488RC2)tripod.​Just feel like I'm going to mess up a great chance to do it right. Sure wish I had a photographer to take with me. Someone to keep my head on straight.I'm with Rui on the brain scrambleing. Anything else I should do??