PhotoPlus The Canon Magazine – August 2019

52 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

project 2

Video also online

http://bit.ly/pp_155_2

View the V

ideo

the Mission

Take gorgeous

sunrise images

Time needed

Two hours

Skill level

Intermediate

Kit needed

• Zoom lens


• Tripod


• Smartphone for
  apps (optional)

shooting striking

sunrise scenes

Peter Travers proves it’s worth your while getting up at the

crack of dawn to shoot astounding sunrises

01 PhoTograPher’s ePhemeris
As well as sunrise times, the direction of
the sunlight is also important, so you can
plan which angle of view is best to light up
your location, or for the sunrise to be in the
background. We use the Photographer’s
Ephemeris smartphone app for this.

02 Camera and lens

For our sunrise shots, we’ve used a

full-frame Canon EOS 5D Mark III and EF

24-70mm f/2.8L lens, but you can use any

Canon DSLR and standard zoom lens. You

don’t need fast lenses for scenic shots as

you’ll be working with narrower apertures.

03 exPosure mode

By shooting in Av mode, we can set our

aperture for good depth of field. For

scenic sunrise shots use narrow apertures

around f/8 to f/11 so shots are sharp from

foreground to background. Expose for the

brighter sun to avoid blown highlights.

step by step key settings for sunrises

Learn pro secrets and use essential Canon camera techniques for better results

efore you get up early

to shoot a stunning

sunrise, first decide

whether you want to

shoot into the rising sun,

or use the sun to light up

a specific area in the

scene you’re photographing.

Then plan your destination

accordingly.

Use a weather app so you can

plan what time is best to shoot

• allowing time to be on site and
  in position before the sun comes
  up. We use the BBC Weather app
  on our smartphone, so we have
  instant info at our fingertips. For
  the sunrise shots we’ll be up and
  out the door, waiting ready with
  our camera on a tripod on location
  30 minutes before sunrise.
  The difference is amazing
  when shooting with low-light

conditions early in the morning,

compared to harsh midday sun.

You’ll notice how still it can be at

this time of day, and with less

wind any water in your shot

should be much calmer as well

• much like the mountain lake
  in our main image.
  We always shoot in Raw as it
  creates the best image quality
  and gives us the best control over
  processing when shooting straight
  into the bright rising sun. From
  changing the exposure to white
  balance, highlights and shadows


• all can be easily tweaked in
  Photoshop or Lightroom without
  any loss in image quality.
  As soon as the sun comes up,
  light levels will increase, so you
  might like to use an ND filter for a
  long exposure to slow your shutter
  speed for artistic images.

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