Ocean Sunrise Tips?

mattmacf · July 22, 2007

Hello all, new to the forum, figured I'd introduce myself and start asking some questions. I only started shooting a few months ago for a summer photography class at school. It filled a requirement, fit my schedule, and sounded kinda neat, I figured why not. Of course nobody thought to mention that this stuff gets addictive.

Class has been over for about a month and I've been shooting semi-regularly since then. My dad's got some quality gear I've been using (see sig) and I think I've picked up rather quickly. I'm looking forward to shooting lots more and possibly turning this into a full time hobby :thumb

Anyway, it's 2something in the morning at the Jersey shore and if all goes to plan I'll be on a bike bound for the ocean in about three hours to catch what I hope is a pretty neat sunrise over the Atlantic. Any tips from the guys who've been doing this a lot longer than I have? In particular, some technical advice would be great. Composition I'm not worried about (it's either there or it's not), but if there's anything in particular I should bring along or some special technique to remember, it'd be great to know.

Mike Lane · July 22, 2007

mattmacf wrote:

Hello all, new to the forum, figured I'd introduce myself and start asking some questions. I only started shooting a few months ago for a summer photography class at school. It filled a requirement, fit my schedule, and sounded kinda neat, I figured why not. Of course nobody thought to mention that this stuff gets addictive. Class has been over for about a month and I've been shooting semi-regularly since then. My dad's got some quality gear I've been using (see sig) and I think I've picked up rather quickly. I'm looking forward to shooting lots more and possibly turning this into a full time hobby

Anyway, it's 2something in the morning at the Jersey shore and if all goes to plan I'll be on a bike bound for the ocean in about three hours to catch what I hope is a pretty neat sunrise over the Atlantic. Any tips from the guys who've been doing this a lot longer than I have? In particular, some technical advice would be great. Composition I'm not worried about (it's either there or it's not), but if there's anything in particular I should bring along or some special technique to remember, it'd be great to know.

You can't sleep because you're just too darn excited about photography?

So I don't know if any of the professionals are going to be on any time soon, so you're stuck with me.

First thing I would say is that a sunrise actually comes pretty quick. So don't expect to be able to get a shot, ride somewhere else, get another shot, etc. Find a good place, know that the sun will rise in the Northeast part of the sky and get ready.

Expose for the sky, try to get some silhouettes. You won't get much more than a big blank white spot where the sun should be if the sun is over the horizon (or at least if it is up too far), but sometimes that can be okay:

One trick is to make blue things like the sky or water exposed perfectly and then shoot the scene. That's what I did here:

Play around with your white balance some. Either while you're shooting or in post:

Shots like the following can be fun to get once, but then they're a lot boring:

Anyhow, you've got a 20D. Pay attention to the histograms if you've got questions about metering. Know that your histograms will lie to you if the sun is up already. If you've got photoshop consider an HDR perhaps. Get familiar with the burst mode and only use it when you're in Av mode. Oh and make sure you're using a tripod.

And have fun!

mattmacf · July 22, 2007

Mike Lane wrote:

You can't sleep because you're just too darn excited about photography?

So I don't know if any of the professionals are going to be on any time soon, so you're stuck with me. First thing I would say is that a sunrise actually comes pretty quick. So don't expect to be able to get a shot, ride somewhere else, get another shot, etc. Find a good place, know that the sun will rise in the Northeast part of the sky and get ready.

Expose for the sky, try to get some silhouettes. You won't get much more than a big blank white spot where the sun should be if the sun is over the horizon (or at least if it is up too far), but sometimes that can be okay:

One trick is to make blue things like the sky or water exposed perfectly and then shoot the scene. That's what I did here:

Play around with your white balance some. Either while you're shooting or in post:

Shots like the following can be fun to get once, but then they're a lot boring:

Anyhow, you've got a 20D. Pay attention to the histograms if you've got questions about metering. Know that your histograms will lie to you if the sun is up already. If you've got photoshop consider an HDR perhaps. Get familiar with the burst mode and only use it when you're in Av mode. Oh and make sure you're using a tripod.

And have fun!

Wow, some really great shots!

It's great to know that there are some right-ponders getting up about now to throw me a bone. My night job pretty much throws my sleep cycle completely out of whack, but at least I get the chance for some neat shots in the early morning and mid evening (who needs that harsh midday sun anyway

).

Thanks for the advice. I'm putting gear together (and inflating bike tires) as we speak now and the more I think about this, the more I think I'm overthinking things.

I think at the moment I'm just going to throw something relatively wide on the camera, put it into Av, shoot in raw, and do plenty of bracketing. At the very least I'll have something to learn from and hopefully nab a keeper or two.

Thanks again, I'll make sure to post what I come up with for a more thorough grilling

:

mattmacf · July 22, 2007

Pictures!!
**Yawn**

Got back from a pre-dawn shoot and did some real quick 'n' dirty PP of some of the better shots. Pics were shot in raw, converted in Rawstudio, straightened, cropped and sharpened in the GIMP. I'll post more and do some serious editing (possibly stitching some panos and doing HDRs) when I get home tonight. Also, no EXIFs yet as they got lost somewhere in the conversion

Without further ado...

Shot from the beach

Shot off the boardwalk

And another off the boardwalk

A pano crop of (virtually) the same shot

A shot later in the morning (not the best but damn is it hard finding a foreground element over the ocean :bluduh)

And a closeup of one of them flying rodents from the last shot

Pictures link to larger image. Gallery is here (nothing to see yet). Comments are great, criticism even better. Don't hold anything back now

chopsky · July 22, 2007

Composition could do with a bit of work, but that'll come.

#2 is nice cause it looks like you got down low to make the shot more interesting. I'd have positioned myself SLIGHTLY more right though so I could see a bit more of the left railing. Pity about the plantation there.
The lighting on #3 is nice, besides for the flare from the lamp.

I dont really buy into all the 'rules', but if you look at all yours photos that include the horizon, it almost always falls dead center. Try to create either a bigger foreground with a smaller background or vise versa. It can make the photograph far more interesting but drawing the eye in.

If possible, I would have laid down to take the photo of the bird in order to get in some background. Gives the viewer sense of location.

Seefutlung · July 22, 2007

^5 to both Matt and Mike. Nicely done.

Mike I like the back lighted boat with the gold (worth a 13x19)

First shot is very nice, but (the big butt) try not to bisect you frame with a horizon. A 50-50 division is boring and the eye/brain of the viewer wondera what is the focus of the photo ... land ... or sky? So that being said I'd crop a bit off the bottom of the first as clearly the sky/clouds are more interesting than the sand.

The boardwalk shots while interesting .. don't say to me "sunrise". Is that your bike with the freshly pumped up tires? I really like the exposure of the last bike shot ... but you need to show the lamp. Composition wise the lamp adds a very nice element ...

Since you are a 5AM-er ... I can see an interesting photo series of NJ places all taken early early morn (with the bike - lol) ...

Your comment of lack of foreground element takes me back to what Mike stated he his tips ... scope out the area early.

So glad to be living in California ... sunsets are easier on the body for day time jobbers than sunrises.

Gary

mattmacf · July 22, 2007

Wow some great advice.

#2 is nice cause it looks like you got down low to make the shot more interesting. I'd have positioned myself SLIGHTLY more right though so I could see a bit more of the left railing. Pity about the plantation there.

I agree on the bit about getting lower for the shot. I was actually trying to avoid doing that in some of the other shots as I thought putting the railing above the horizon would just obscure the photo. In hindsight, I kinda like the tension it add to the shot.

As far as getting over to the right more, I believe I was trying to get more in on the right (and sneaking that life guard stand in the frame for some reason

). Unfortunately, I was at the wide end of my kit lens and rather than taking my time to find a shot that really worked I made some silly compositional decisions trying to squeeze too much in. Regardless, the Sigma 12-24 just jumped to the top of my wish list

I dont really buy into all the 'rules', but if you look at all yours photos that include the horizon, it almost always falls dead center. Try to create either a bigger foreground with a smaller background or vise versa. It can make the photograph far more interesting but drawing the eye in.

First shot is very nice, but (the big butt) try not to bisect you frame with a horizon. A 50-50 division is boring and the eye/brain of the viewer wondera what is the focus of the photo ... land ... or sky? So that being said I'd crop a bit off the bottom of the first as clearly the sky/clouds are more interesting than the sand.

Agreed very much. The first pic (and the fifth too IIRC) is uncropped off the camera (on purpose! I swear!) Obviously some more judicious cropping is called for:

The boardwalk shots while interesting .. don't say to me "sunrise". Is that your bike with the freshly pumped up tires? I really like the exposure of the last bike shot ... but you need to show the lamp. Composition wise the lamp adds a very nice element ...

Since you are a 5AM-er ... I can see an interesting photo series of NJ places all taken early early morn (with the bike - lol) ...

Your comment of lack of foreground element takes me back to what Mike stated he his tips ... scope out the area early.

Indeed it is the bike. Ain't she a beaut?

I think the lack of a pronounced sunrise look in the shot has to do with the fact that it was taken about 15 minutes before sunrise (according to the EXIF + weather channel) and that the light in the foreground adds to the exposure. The light is also a little harsh compared to the subtle, muted colors in the sky, but the natural/artifical light contrast made these shots stand out in post.

Here's a slightly better (imho) crop of that shot with a little less to the right and a little more to the top. The flare I may take care of later when I have access to photoshop and a real mouse.

I also could've definitely used a good bit more time to find something compelling to add to the shot. I figured leaving at 5 would give me enough time to catch a 5:45 sunrise but the sky was already starting to break when I arrived. There's a lot more interesting stuff a mile or so north that I didn't have a chance to get to. Instead I was stuck rearranging the flippin' bike in a desperate attempt to keep the frame together

And with a little luck I'll be here long enough to get some decent evening pics of the nearby lake