Reaching for the sun
Jul, 2016Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in the Danube Delta, in Romania. This place is so magical, especially during sunrise. Everything is pink and you can hear all the life there awakening - birds, bugs, frogs, all playing their part of the symphony.Time
One of my favourite times of the day is the sunrise. It's such a calming time. You can hear the quiet transform into noise as more and more creatures awake. And the dance of colours, ever changing with every second adds to this magical time of day. I took this photo during an early morning boat ride. We started when it was almost dark and sailed along the canals of the Delta, while everything around was transforming from black to pink.Lighting
I wanted to illustrate the transition between dark and light, between cold and warm. To do that, I focused on exposing the sky correctly, while keeping the other element dark, to just show their silhouette.Equipment
For this shot I used my Nikon D3300 with the default kit lens, Nikon AF-P 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR. It was shortly before I started photography so this was my go to back then.Inspiration
To me nature is the most inspiring subject. From big landscapes to the smallest worlds. What I wanted to transmit with this photo is how the sleeping and cold landscapes of the night can transform to a world full of colour and warmth with the gentle touch of the sun.Editing
I try to edit my pictures to look as close to reality as possible. I do not like over processed imagery, so what I did is to use Lightroom to correct some of the light settings. In moment like this, you do not have much time to play with settings, so I decided to correct some shadows, highlights and enhance the colours a bit to match what my eyes have seen.In my camera bag
Since my favourite subject is nature, I like to combine hiking with photography which means I am really paying attention to the weight I am carrying. I always have with me my Nikon D3300 and Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) lens. I also carry with me a small tripod just in case the opportunity to capture some stars arises. For some time I was was carrying also a Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro but it became too heavy when I started camping, so I gave up on it. Also, because I didn't had a big budget, I bought this lens without image stabilisation which required me to always use a tripod for sharp images, which is not very practical when hiking.Feedback
You cannot really plan these moments. They are gonna appear in front of you and they may last for just a few moments, so you need to be ready to shoot always. In order to make sure you capture the right colours, I would advise to play with the camera as often as possible in similar conditions, in this case, sunrise, wherever you are. This teaches you a lot about your camera and I think that's one of the most important things - getting to know your gear. The rest, is just being there in the right moment, which means sometimes it's based on luck.
