Morning Misty Grove, Sunrise Composition Question...

TeamSpeed

I was headed to work, and saw a nice misty tree grove with a red sunrise. I took the following shot, and wanted to know how others compose morning shots with the sun in the pic without overexposing the sun or underexpose the rest of the picture. I wanted to get the sun in the picture, but decided just to get part of it through the branches.

I am thinking I will have to break down and get some ND filters, but am unsure. Any hints would be appreciated!

Richard

I don't think a graduated ND filter would solve the problem in this particular shot. While it would darken the sun, it would also darken the trees on both sides of it and the result would look phony. That said, ND filters are definitely on my own new toys wish list.

I generally try to combine two exposures, either bracketed shots or multiple versions from the same RAW file. There are several ways to mask the layers. The simplest is a gradient, which can work in a pic that has a clean separation of sky and foreground. Another method is to create a mask from one of the channels, usually inverted. You have to experiment with each shot to see which channel works best, but the result is generally very smooth.

One final note: It is almost impossible to avoid clipping the sun itself, so don't fret too much about it. You can always tweak it to taste by painting on another layer in color mode. The main thing is to avoid blowing the sky around it.

Hope this helps.

TeamSpeed

rsinmadrid wrote:

I don't think a graduated ND filter would solve the problem in this particular shot. While it would darken the sun, it would also darken the trees on both sides of it and the result would look phony. That said, ND filters are definitely on my own new toys wish list.

I generally try to combine two exposures, either bracketed shots or multiple versions from the same RAW file. There are several ways to mask the layers. The simplest is a gradient, which can work in a pic that has a clean separation of sky and foreground. Another method is to create a mask from one of the channels, usually inverted. You have to experiment with each shot to see which channel works best, but the result is generally very smooth.

One final note: It is almost impossible to avoid clipping the sun itself, so don't fret too much about it. You can always tweak it to taste by painting on another layer in color mode. The main thing is to avoid blowing the sky around it.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the tips, I will have to start trying bracketed shots and play more with masks. Sounds like that is a great way to take the best exposed areas from each.

tobers

I'd be really interested in this shot taken from the other side of the trees with the sun behind you. The warm light on the tree trunks and leaves would look superb, and also happily eliminate the problem of the sun

TeamSpeed

tobers wrote:

I'd be really interested in this shot taken from the other side of the trees with the sun behind you. The warm light on the tree trunks and leaves would look superb, and also happily eliminate the problem of the sun

This angle is the only really good one, I could try to do this during sunset, great idea!