Sunrise at Cave Point
Cave Point is the iconic place to shoot sunrises at any time. A rock shelf like structure where the water has carved out "caves" from pounding waves f...
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Cave Point is the iconic place to shoot sunrises at any time. A rock shelf like structure where the water has carved out "caves" from pounding waves from Lake Michigan. This morning the calm water allows me to out walk out at water level and set up low.
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Sep, 2015Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
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johnrabbit
March 06, 2018
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Behind The Lens
Location
This sunrise was taken at Cave Point County Park, Door County, Wisconsin. Cave Point faces Lake Michigan.Time
It was Memorial Day Weekend, and the sunrise was approximately 5:30am.Lighting
The sky was clear with the exception of a layer of clouds above the horizon, but there was a clear area between the horizon and the layer. So sunrise was going to be good, but I was hoping that the cloud layer would light up with some color.Equipment
I used a Canon Xti, Canon 17-85mm, Polarizer, 3 stop graduated neutral density filter, tripodInspiration
Cave Point is the very best place to shoot the sunrise in Door County, WI The rock formation is a shelf-like structure allowing me to step down to the lowest layer. With wind coming from the East this flat layer would be under water with heavy waves pounding the shore. This morning was calm with little wind so I was able climb down to this flat area. I set the tripod low on the rock shelf to make the pools of water look larger than they were. Being low also picked up the light skipping along the rocky surface.Editing
I did some color adjustment on the sky, some contrast and highlight on the rock surface.In my camera bag
Canon eos7D, Canon 16-35mm,2-8L, Canon 70-300mm, Canon 17-85mm, Cokin holders, adapters, polarizer, Grad neutral density filters,, extra batteries, small flashlights, loupe, remotes, memory cards, tool to tighten tripod legs, manualFeedback
Don't be afraid to get your tripod low which makes small things in the foreground look larger and gives the image more depth. It's hard to do but getting up way before dawn and arriving early enough to scout the area, if you haven't done it the day before, for your best shot. After sunrise, swing your camera around and look for some soft low light on surfaces 180degrees from the sun.
