subject: Better Sunrise Photography [print this page] Taking the Best Sunrise Photographs Taking the Best Sunrise Photographs
Sunrise photography is one of the most common that a budding young photographer aspires to try, not just photographers, but even an ordinary person loves the beauty of the sun and the beauty of the sunrise. The first thing you probably need to do is to think and to plan the shot, as the point and shoot approach won't really work. Your aim should be to create a portrait of the sky, not just an ordinary snapshot. Think, plan and be creative. Look around the scene of the sunrise and see what you can include in the fore, mid and back ground.
When you take sunrise pictures, you have to learn to take control over what your mind has filtered. What I mean by that is that you must recognize and visualize the various aspects that you want to include in the photograph. Search for sunrise images on the internet and this might give you an idea about what stunning sunrise pictures look like, and the various aspects of the photographs that really good pictures incorporate within them.
Shooting the sunrise with different lenses will of course create different perceptions. Look for attractive elements to incorporate into the photograph. Make a number of shots at different exposures to find out the result of changing the aperture and shutter speed of your camera. Familiarize yourself with what increasing and decreasing each does to the photograph. This information will differ as to the camera type and model that you use, although, in general, should affect the photograph in one set way or the other.
ISO in Sunrise Photography
To shoot a figure ( like two lovers) with the sunrise as the background, set ISO to around 300 or greater and your aperture around f/5 or f/8 and shoot in Manual Mode. In traditional (film) photography ISO (or ASA) was the indication of how sensitive a film was to light. It was measured in numbers (youve probably seen them on films 100, 200, 400, 800 etc). The lower the number the lower the sensitivity of the film and the finer the grain in the shots youre taking. In digital photography, ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds
Turn off auto focus and use manual focus. If you want to develop your sunrise photography and you believe the scene is attention-grabbing, revisit and try to make more pictures, until you acquire the exact image that is in your mind. I hope that this helps you the next time you're in position to shoot a really outstanding sunrise. What I notice is the convergence of all of the sun gazers that come down to the beach, appearing little by little, wiping their eyes and gazing upon the beauty of the sunrise. It's almost comical, as they stand and stare at the awesome beauty before them.
