Beach Sunrise - Need some advice

[radar]

Hi,

there was a beautiful sunrise a few days ago and I had my camera with me. I took a number of shots. The colours came out very nice in the sky and reflecting on the sand, but they look a bit dark to me. I still like them, but I was hoping to make them better with a bit of PP.

I tried to brigthen them up with PP, but couldn't really get it right. When this is the case, do I play with saturation, brightness, colour levels, curves



D70s
Kit Lens
1/30 shutter
3.5 aperture
18mm focal length
200 ISO



D70s
Kit Lens
1/200 shutter
10.0 aperture
70mm focal length
200 ISO

Looking at the exif data, the first image probably should have a different aperture, would make the beach sharper, but I guess then I would probably a tripod then, or increase ISO.

Any help and pointers appreciated,

André

[wendellt]

Hi Andre

beautiful shots

I would suggest a tripod that way you can use longer shutter speed like 2 secs, this will will give you a brighter image and it will make the water look more silky, a nice effect.

there isn't much you can do in photoshop woth curves if the original image has many flat tones(the sand)

[sirhc55]

Andre - the second shot is very nice - rich in colour. Just one suggestion would be to straighten the pic otherwise the ship might slip behind the headland

[leek]

Nice pics Andre... They don't look too dark to me...

One thing that might imprive the first one is to crop off the bottom 40% and turn it into a Panorama format... That would present the best part of the photo in the best light in my view...

[KerryPierce]

Hi,

I tried to brigthen them up with PP, but couldn't really get it right. When this is the case, do I play with saturation, brightness, colour levels, curves

Looking at the exif data, the first image probably should have a different aperture, would make the beach sharper, but I guess then I would probably a tripod then, or increase ISO.

André

Hi Andre,

Here's a quickie that I did on your first image. I upped the gamma, used a slight S curve and boosted saturation, resharpened.



When shooting landscapes, I try to use the hyperfocal focus method. For example, at 18mm, f/11 with focus at 3.5ft, would have almost the whole frame in focus. For sunsets, I usually underexpose by about .6EV, but it really depends on the scene and prolly would have been too much on this particular shot.

I like this shot a great deal. I'd have also shot several different angles of it and one of them would have been to move closer to the very wet sand area, about 1/4 up from the bottom of the frame and then got down low to the ground to emphasize the lovely reflections in the wet sand.

Of course, you'd need a tripod or something to steady the camera. Upping the ISO on underexposed shots usually results in too much noise.

[radar]

Thanks for all the great feedback,

followed some of your recommendations, and tried my hand again at PP.



Much better result

I'll try it again with a tripod, next time I get a nice sunrise and I'm getting one of those bubble level spirit at the AW to stop those coal ships from sliding in the cliff

Thanks again to all,

Radar.