sunriseprint1
We were 30 minutes out of Saskatoon on the way to Calgary, Alberta. A dull morning but at 6:10am this scene occurred. I happened to be driving by a large slou...
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We were 30 minutes out of Saskatoon on the way to Calgary, Alberta. A dull morning but at 6:10am this scene occurred. I happened to be driving by a large slough so parked on the west side and shot some images quickly as this sunrise only lasted 10 minutes at the most. The rest of the 7 hour drive that day was through dull overcast weather. I shot RAW images but never had to make any adjustments except to reduce the size for posting.
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Apr, 2015Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The sunrise image was taken on the west side of Provincial Highway #7 approximately 30 to 40 miles south west of the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.Time
We had left early in the morning to drive to Calgary, Alberta, a trip of approximately 7 to 8 hours. It was a dull overcast looking day. At 6:10 we noticed noticed the beginning of this sunrise. I immediately started looking for a safe place to pull over on the highway. I then saw a large slough of clear still water and drove into a farmers field and parked on the west side. I started shooting images at 6:13am and end at 6:21am. Several minutes later the skies once again turned to a dull overcast.Lighting
The lighting this day is what I term "magic light". We have that many times in the mornings, in particular when the fog is just lifting and the sun starts bursting through. I find this the ideal time to shoot nature images.Equipment
I was using my first SLR digital, a Pentax *isD that was not that great for color. However if one dialed in a manual white balance of "shade" it was always a great camera for sunsets and sunrises. I no longer have that camera. I handheld the camera and the settings were set as follows: ISO 200 Focal length of the Sigma DC lens. 18mm. (a 18-200mm lens) F stop set at 5.6 and the camera then selected a shutter speed of 1/125th second Manual White Balance set to shadeInspiration
I've been photographing skies for over 60 years and I knew that this was going to be a very special sunrise.Editing
The only post-processing was converting the RAW image to JPG and reducing the size.In my camera bag
A Pentax K7 with a Pentax 18-270 lens. Pentax 70-140mm F2.8 rated lens. Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 lens. A Pentax K10D with a Tamron 500mm mirror lens for photographing birds and wildlife. A Panasonic camera converted for Infrared Two tripods One monopod Two Pentax *isd's as backup cameras. Three small Fuji camerasFeedback
Get out early in the field. Learn how to read the skies in relationship to cloud formations. Early morning fog can many times assist in creating a beautiful composition, especially just when the fog is beginning to fade out. Reflections, be they from a body of water, windows (tall sky scrapers etc), can be very helpful. Having a structure in silhouetted in a sunrise or sunset image can be very useful. In my sunrise image I made sure that I was going to include the wooden power poles that also are reflected in the water. I knew from experience that the lines strung between the power poles would be barely visible. Had I used auto white balance, a bit of post processing might have been necessary. I don't have this issue with my later model Pentax units and seldom go off the auto white balance. Every camera seems to be different, even when it is the same model. It is something you have to experiment with. Sometimes setting the exposure (EV) to minus 1.0 to minus 2.0 also helps for sunrise and sunset images. I did not have to do that for this sunrise. What you want to avoid is over exposing.
