Photographing the Dawn
A Beginner’s Guide to Capturing the Sunrise in Pictures
Stunning photographs of the dawn are among the landscape photographer's most challenging and rewarding goals.
Photographing the dawn means working at very unsociable hours. You can get some stunning images, probably unimpeded by much other human activity, but there is a high risk of disappointment. How can you shorten the odds of bringing home images good enough to vindicate your early start?
Like the sunset, the rising sun can produce spectacular displays that have always presented photographers with opportunities and challenges. But the best lighting and colours last only a few minutes and can occur at any time within half an hour either side of the sun’s appearance over the horizon.
Planning the Shoot
So you will need to plan your trip carefully, and get to your mark well before you expect to start shooting. You will most likely be working in low light and facing a wide range of brightness levels from the foreground to the sky, so you will need a tripod with a remote shutter release, and a set of graduated neutral density filters.
The direction of the sun at the moment of its appearance can vary hugely during the year, especially in the higher latitudes. So check not only the time but also exactly where the sun will rise above the horizon: what worked in December may not in June.
Even then, the weather can make a big difference to the success of the shoot. The worst cases are an amorphous mass of grey cloud obscuring the sun or strong winds and rain that will shake the camera and splatter your lens. But beyond that almost any conditions can photograph well.
Composing Dawn Shots
With an intricate cloudscape you will want to keep the foreground to the lower third of the frame, and probably the best of the light will come shortly before the sun rises.
On the other hand you might want to restrict a clear sky to the top third of the frame, and make the best of reflections in the foreground just after the sun appears. Getting the right exposure for this kind of shot can be tricky because you might have to deal with the specular highlight of the sun itself, and the risk of lens flare. You should expect to use a three-stop ND grad filter; and there is an extra premium on keeping it and your lens scrupulously free of dust.
Within your site, plan a few alternative positions for your tripod so that when you start shooting, and as the light and reflections change, you can experiment with varying foregrounds.
Working with RAW Format Images
There is no way to know when the light will be at its best, so start shooting as soon as the sky begins to look interesting and continue as long as the light and colours evolve. Then turn your camera around and look for compositions across the light, making use of reflections and deep shadows in the landscape while the sun is still low.
With the strong contrasts and risks of blown out highlights that tend to feature in dawn shots, the chances are you will have work to do when you get home. You will be thankful for saving your images in RAW format rather than leaving the camera to make jpeg conversions. After fixing the highlights, dawn pictures often benefit from a little warming.
And if the colours were not as spectacular as you hoped, you might find that an average RGB shot will come up nicely in black and white. Experiment, until you justify your loss of sleep.
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