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With sunrise due to arrive around 7AM we headed out early (I got up around 3:30AM) for the long drive through the city and down the coast almost to Wollongong where we stopped at the small sleepy township of Coledale.

We ended up arriving early but this allowed a darkness rece of the area to scope out some potential locations - we decided the ocean pool was the best bet. In the darkness of pre dawn it was looking promising with an array of lighter looking clouds in the sky which we'd hoped would bode well for a colourful sunrise. Unfortunately whoever ordered the clouds that morning hit "Buy Now" a few too many times because more is just more and definitely not better in this instance.

C&C appreciated...

Sunrise came with no fanfare and heavy clouds blocked just about all the colour in the sky - twilight was a non event and I managed to snag a few less than stellar images just as the sun hit the horizon. I've taken a 'few' liberties with the colour and white balance to add a better mood...

Sunrise


Out to Sea


as luck would have it just when all was lost we were given a second chance... we had god rays beaming down through some gaps in the heavy clouds and they actually lasted for quite some time which was handy for trying different compositions with different lenses even

Lit by God


Golden Nucleus

#4 is very nice with lots of action in the middle highlighted by the golden nucleus. Would make a nice pano print. *actually on second look, #4 will benefit from a slightly longer shutter to make the waves ever so slightly flowy...

#1 and #2 are fairly ordinary I reckon because the light is fairly flat and there isn't enough excitement to hold the viewer in the foreground.

I note that you have commented that the sunrise was less than stellar. I thought it was bloody brilliant! I have never seen god rays last that long. [The longest has been 10 minutes ] Although we didn't have the multitude of colors, the light was nice and addded a zing to the foreground textures.

I like teh composition on teh first, however I think you need to look at the yellows, they feel gaudy and over saturated, how are you adjusting teh colour in these images? possibly adjusting the red and green on these areas will make for a more natural and realistic golden colour?

The second and third images are very nice, not much to add on those. The last one, as Suren mentioned maybe helped with some water movement to give it a bit more kick, otherwise brightening teh foreground may also help.

I like the first and last one for composition
and dramatic effects.

surenj wrote:#4 is very nice with lots of action in the middle highlighted by the golden nucleus. Would make a nice pano print. *actually on second look, #4 will benefit from a slightly longer shutter to make the waves ever so slightly flowy...

Thanks Suren - and yes I was trying - this frame was at f/13 but the next few were at f/16 and then f/22 to get a bit longer (1/4 to 0.4 sec). I could probably have done with an ND but this was nearing the end of the nice god ray part of this show...

I did find this compo I took neat the end (where I'd swivelled more to the right to get the sun over on the left) - what do you think (with similar processing (copied and pasted from first in LR) but 0.4 sec so more flowy water)

#1 and #2 are fairly ordinary I reckon because the light is fairly flat and there isn't enough excitement to hold the viewer in the foreground.

I note that you have commented that the sunrise was less than stellar. I thought it was bloody brilliant! I have never seen god rays last that long. [The longest has been 10 minutes ] Although we didn't have the multitude of colors, the light was nice and addded a zing to the foreground textures.

You're right - god rays time was excellent - but that was after sunrise - normally the pre dawn show is excellent and once the sun is up it's over - we had it around the other way this time.

biggerry wrote:I like teh composition on teh first, however I think you need to look at the yellows, they feel gaudy and over saturated, how are you adjusting teh colour in these images? possibly adjusting the red and green on these areas will make for a more natural and realistic golden colour?

Thanks Gerry - the colour adjustment in the first was only really through WB shift - from the as shot 7850K to a more nuclear 13199K

Here is the same shot - rest of PP identical but with the WB shifted back to as shot (very cool):

The second and third images are very nice, not much to add on those. The last one, as Suren mentioned maybe helped with some water movement to give it a bit more kick, otherwise brightening teh foreground may also help.

Thanks - see above and I'll look at that...

zafra52 wrote:I like the first and last one for composition and dramatic effects.

Thanks Zafra