Week 1 - Photographing Sunrises and Sunsets

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The purpose of this blog is to:

• Discuss and evaluate individual photos taken by Gerald Catalano, co-owner of Catalavro Concepts, Inc.
• Offer one another critical information on techniques, camera settings, lens settings, lighting settings and whatever pertinent information went into getting the shot.
• Learn from each other to improve our beloved craft.
• Replies with photos and technical details are welcomed and in many cases, preferred.

Week 1: Sunrises and Sunsets

August 29, 2010 - Sept. 5th 2010

Hammock Beach - Palm Coast, FL

 Shot Using the following settings

D300s - RAW

White Balance - Auto
Lens - Tamaron 10-24mm f/3.5
ISO - 800
EV Compensation - -1.7
Aperture - F/22
Shutter Speed - 1/250 second

Tripod and Shutter Release

The main consideration I have with shooting sunrises and sunsets has to do with the lack of lighting related to this subject matter and how to correctly meter my camera to get the very best shot possible that would show detail throughout the whole composition while also maintaining detail in the sun without blowing out the highlights. This can be tricky... There is quite a lot of "trial and error" that goes into a shot like this initially and a fairly decent understanding of one's camera equipment is needed- as well as a bit of luck! One thing is for certain -  if I am not out there shooting, luck won't play a role at all and I won't have a photo or blog - or business for that matter!

For this shot, I left the house at 5:25am for a 6:15 sunrise. I know, that's fairly EARLY - but a shot like this is only possible in the early morning, right? Since I had been to the location one other time for a sunset shot, I was somewhat familiar with the fact that the view was facing East - perfect for sunrises! I locked that tidbit into my mind and made it a point to go back out and shoot a sunrise photograph. And no, an Eastward sunset shot in FL is not ideal and didn't pan out...

When I arrived to the location, it was mildly raining and very humid. This combination can be a deal breaker for some who don't want to endure the elements to get a shot. Determined, I didn't mind the rain that much so long as there wasn't too much lightning - but the humidity was a serious problem for my equipment. All of my lenses were fogging and rendered useless until I cleaned (and re-cleaned over and over again) them every 5th shot or so. This was a huge inconvenience but I marched on!

Once I got the lenses into a usable state, I decided that I wanted to shoot very wide to capture the amazing details in the sky and foreground sand. I pulled out my trusty Tamron 10-25mm lens for the job and as always, it pulled through better than my Nikon ultra-wide lens. Although the Tamron lens isn't particularly fast (it's a f/3.5-5.6 lens) for low light conditions where fast shutter speeds are required, it is more than capable for shooting on a tripod with a cable release using longer exposure times. The slower shutter speeds assist the lens to capture as much light as needed while also making moving water appear silky smooth. The only catch is that hand holding in low light conditions is practically impossible, therefore, a tripod and cable release are a must! In this case, I was able to freeze the foreground water by only slowing the shutter speed to 1/250sec. instead of my original setting of 2+ seconds. I made the change after the sun had risen / in lighter conditions because I saw what the water was doing on the shore and wanted to capture it. Shooting at f/22 ensured that the whole image was evenly focused and the Manfrotto tripod/head kept my gear steady to capture a tack sharp photo.

At first, I found that my camera settings weren't quite right for what I wanted. The images were too flat and lifeless and my composition was, well, BORING and very wide! I decided to set the picture controls to Vivid mode and boost the saturation a bit to get more color. I moved my spot closer to the edge of the water line and lowered the tripod down to the ground to get less than 1 ft. from the sand. At this point, I started my WB and metering configurations while the sun had just started to peak through the clouds on the horizon line signaling the start of a new day.

The trick I use to WB is to place my camera in Live View and review each setting independently to see which looks best. This trick was actually something I stumbled upon when I started shooting with the Nikon D300s.
It works! Try it!

The trick that I used to meter the sun is to place the camera in Aperture priority mode and take a reading just above the sun (but so that sun is nowhere in the frame). While holding my shutter release halfway down to maintain the reading, I notated what the metering value was and changed modes to Manual. I entered those values into my camera and recomposed the shot to include the sun.  From there, I continued to adjust the settings until I found a result I was happy with. I would never try to meter the sun directly and I don't ever suggest doing so - as the result is typically blown out highlights and VERY underexposed images.

The auto metering settings I got back from the camera in Aperture priority mode weren't quiet perfect for the final shot but were a great start! My initial shots were coming out okay except that the sun continued to be blown out ever so slightly. By looking at the image and then the histogram, I was able to recognize this and make corrections. There is no substitute for the technical data on the camera! For sunrises, I prefer a crisp image with details throughout so I made the necessary subtle changes, most notably to the EV compensation. It was set to (-1.7 ) to get the highlights under control and voila' - the result was a picture that told a story rather than just a wide shot of a sunrise! Who wants that?

Once I had the colors and highlights controlled the way I wanted, it was time to recompose the shot using the rule of thirds! Like all good photographers, I didn't want the horizon line dead center. I was told that shooting dead center is "deadly" and that has always stuck with me but there are times where exceptions have to be made, right?

As I started shooting, I quickly realized that I also wanted to capture some of the tide (with the sun's reflection) that had started to rise and wash ashore more closely to where I positioned my tripod. The result was what would become, the final shot. Problem was, to frame this shot, it would have to be cropped dead center! Yuck...so I thought.

I generally shoot images for large format prints which means I need every bit of data I can muster (especailly on a cropped sensor camera with 12.3MP)! I shoot in RAW with a JPEG backup on a Nikon D300s (which has 2 slots - one for SD cards and another for CF cards). This combination allows me to remain flexible enough to quickly download and  preview images on my computer (downloading and viewing JPEGs first) while also having all of that image data on a RAW file for post production tweaks in PS or LR on photos that I like without any loss of data as a result of any compression found on JPEGS. I highly suggest shooting in RAW when you have to have that perfect shot really come out perfect!

The final image was shot in RAW also and taken into PS for minor changes to the vibrance and saturation settings in the midtones and shadows. In the end, the composition (length of the subject) forced me into a crop that placed the horizon line dead center. Because there was so much detail in the sky, I didn't want to lose any of it by cropping it out moving the horizon line upwards and vice-versa, so much detail in the foreground (with those waves overlapping) that I couldn't crop down either. After a little debate with myself and the echoes of the person who told me dead center is deadly, a concession was made. Generally, I do not recommend placing shots dead center except in portraits (and even then, there are far better and more contemporary alternatives)!

Questions: 

• What tips or tricks can be employed to control the effects of humidity on glass?
• Are there additional tricks that can be used to meter more accurately?

Tips:
Metering for sunrises and sunsets can be a little tricky at times. There are 2 completely different light sources that need to be considered and factored by the camera. While our eyes may do a great job doing this, the camera is much more limited!

While nothing can be done about a seriously underexposed or overexposed shot with great results, minor imperfections can be corrected in photo editing software so long as the image is properly focused. Metering the correct light source is key, however.

• Meter directly above the sun without the sun being in the frame before you recompose your shot to include the sun. This generally affords the camera an opportunity to do so with more precision.
• If you can only get part of the shot correctly, try to get the sky, the sun is hard to look at with the human eye, therefore references to it are limited, however, people do know what a sky should look like - so it should be as tack sharp as possible! :)

As always, I welcome constructive feedback and great suggestions for improving these techniques...happy shooting!