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I hadn't gone on a sunrise shoot for nearly a year so I ended up going for three. Main reason was I didn't have ND Grads but I finally have my Lee Grads so making the most of it. Although I don't have my 0.9 ND grad yet so have been using my 0.6 grad and 0.6 ND Pro Glass together instead. The problem is that the ND gives a harsh line but I have minimised it as much as I can. Here are three of my favourite images from each one. I took many more shots and you can see them on my flickr account if you want: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54898912@N03/

Would love your comments, good or bad and like to know which one you like the most.


This was my first sunrise which was between south Bombo and kiama. The horizon was covered in dense cloud but the sun was able to burn through it eventually.

Camera - Nikon D90
Exposure - 1.9
Aperture - f/13.0
Focal Length - 11 mm
ISO Speed - 100


This was the second sunrise at Kiama rock pool (near kiama lighthouse). Sun was blocked by clouds but after 20 minutes it popped over and the light came through.

Camera - Nikon D90
Exposure - 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 11 mm
ISO Speed - 100


This was my final sunrise and was taken at Black beach Kiama. Love the bright vivid sky and no I didn't do any post processing on the colours and didn't even need to touch the saturation bar even when using a RAW file.

Camera - Nikon D90
Exposure - 2
Aperture - f/10.0
Focal Length - 13 mm
ISO Speed - 100


Thanks
Chris

These really do prove it is worth waking up for the sunrise....

#2 and #3 are stronger images that #1 to me. I really love the silky water in #3 and the action that you have captured in #2

#3 for the great composition with the headlands holding the bright sky like a pair of cupped hands.
The water action over the foreground really adds to the shot as well. Oh the colour is great also.

Chris,

Looks like you had some good sessions down there, I came across your mate mattyshea on another forum when I saw similiar shots from locations you where at!

The last image is by far the standout, the foreground interest and the glassy water compliment the scene very well and it was a pleasure to view, my only suggestions relate to the crop of the image, it would work very well imo as a pano style, however I would not liek to lose any of the top or bottom of the image since they both contribute quite a bit to the scene. maybe for next time keep in mind the option of swinging the camera around and getting a few shots to stitch as a pano, when you are working with long shutters it makes it pretty easy to stitch.

I am loving the locations you are showing down there too, i was at Stanwell tops the other day and you peeps outta sydney do not realise the premo locations you have!

The last is the standout for me with good composition, colour and 'movement' in the water. I really must get up earlier now the sun rises a little later. The problem is I am a good 40 miniutes from the water perhaps I should get a longer lens!

aim54x wrote:These really do prove it is worth waking up for the sunrise....

#2 and #3 are stronger images that #1 to me. I really love the silky water in #3 and the action that you have captured in #2

Thanks mate. Yeah #1 was my first sunrise in ages so learnt from it and improved in each sunrise.

CraigVTR wrote:#3 for the great composition with the headlands holding the bright sky like a pair of cupped hands.
The water action over the foreground really adds to the shot as well. Oh the colour is great also.

Thanks CraigVTR

biggerry wrote:Looks like you had some good sessions down there, I came across your mate mattyshea on another forum when I saw similiar shots from locations you where at!

The last image is by far the standout, the foreground interest and the glassy water compliment the scene very well and it was a pleasure to view, my only suggestions relate to the crop of the image, it would work very well imo as a pano style, however I would not liek to lose any of the top or bottom of the image since they both contribute quite a bit to the scene. maybe for next time keep in mind the option of swinging the camera around and getting a few shots to stitch as a pano, when you are working with long shutters it makes it pretty easy to stitch.

I am loving the locations you are showing down there too, i was at Stanwell tops the other day and you peeps outta sydney do not realise the premo locations you have!

Thanks Gerry. I actually live in Kiama so it was only a 5 minute drive and about 80% of my images are from kiama haha. Do you have a flickr?

Yeah I like #3 the most too. I wanted to crop it to a pano but didn't want to give up the sky or foreground as you said and couldn't stitch a pano as to the left there was a car with it's lights on (council workers) and on the right it was too busy (lights, buildings) and felt it would change the image. I also liked the symmetry of the land wrapping around the image. But it could have work, we will never know.
I got a shot later when the colours died down and the sun came out and then I could crop more of the sky and got more texture in the water.

Geoff M wrote:The last is the standout for me with good composition, colour and 'movement' in the water. I really must get up earlier now the sun rises a little later. The problem is I am a good 40 miniutes from the water perhaps I should get a longer lens!

Thanks Geoff. Hahaha that might be possible once they make a 4000mm telephoto lens but you will need to build a tower in the backyard too hehe.

I enjoyed viewing them all but that last one is a stunning image and compositionally very strong - beautifully crafted. Congratulations!
cheers
marco

Chris the last one is superb. The only comment is to lockdown the tripod and carefully position the filter so that dark patch in the water is less obvious.

surenj wrote:Chris the last one is superb. The only comment is to lockdown the tripod and carefully position the filter so that dark patch in the water is less obvious.

Thanks Surenj.

Yeah I Know but as I said at the start
"I don't have my 0.9 ND grad yet so have been using my 0.6 grad and 0.6 ND Pro Glass together instead. The problem is that the ND gives a harsh line but I have minimised it as much as I can"

I have the 0.9 grad now so it will help minimise those lines next time and I did lockdown the tripod. I aligned it across the water because it was lest visible and when it was higher you could easily see the line over the trees and if I didn't use it the sky would be overexposed.

They're all good, but the last one is astonishing. I suppose I should get up and see the sunrise too (seeing I live 4-5 minutes from the beach) but I'm getting slacker. Actually, I do rise fairly early, but I have other things to do. I must take the time to set up and take some landscapes. If I could attain to half as good as these I would be very happy indeed.

Ozi.

ozimax wrote:They're all good, but the last one is astonishing. I suppose I should get up and see the sunrise too (seeing I live 4-5 minutes from the beach) but I'm getting slacker. Actually, I do rise fairly early, but I have other things to do. I must take the time to set up and take some landscapes. If I could attain to half as good as these I would be very happy indeed.

Thanks heaps Ozi. I'm not a morning person at all, so took a bit of motivation to get up but it's worth it and once you do it once it's easy to get up at 5am haha. The hard thing is planning it all such as what location to shoot, how to get there, the weather forecast, expected cloud coverage, tides and getting all your gear together. Once that is sorted getting up is easy.

These are all pretty cool pics Chris, but I agree with Ozi the last posted is great. Even if there are some imperfections it was worth the exercise.