Alannixon

PANI DAM SUNRISE PADDLER

Apr, 2014

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Behind The Lens

Location

This was taken on at a dam near where I live. It's flanked on either side by a golf course which makes for a very scenic view.

Time

This was taken at 6am, it was slowly getting into winter therefore sunrise a little later in the morning.

Lighting

The thing is, I wasn't looking to do a paddler in the shot, I was there for the sunrise over the dam nd a long exposure. The paddler went past once or twice and so I thought I'd include him. I was on tripod and set up for a relatively slow shutter speed for the early morning sunrise and not set up for a moving shot. So I had open up my aperture and ISO to up my shutter speed and had to judge where he was going to paddle past again and set my focus manually for that spot and then time the capture. I couldn't move my tripod as I had already shot some beautiful clouds earlier and new I would have to do a blend later and keep the registration of the shots.

Equipment

Canon 5DmkIII, EF 24-105 on a focal length of 24mm.

Inspiration

I really enjoy my landscapes and I am normally up early and out and about. I was there purely for the sunrise over the dam. The paddler was just luck, he went past once or twice and thought he'd be a good foreground focal point in the landscape.

Editing

Yes, I had to up my shutter speed to 2500/sec to get the paddler sharp which meant that I had to up my ISO and open up the aperture (f4) and blew the sky quite a bit. In comparison the sky shots where shot earlier at f13 1/6 sec. I used Lightroom to balance the light of the two shots and Photoshop to do a blend with the earlier shots of the sky to pull the two exposures together.

In my camera bag

Now a days for my sunrise shots I have my trusted Canon 5DmkIII, 16-35mm 2.8, I also pack my 70-200 2.8 II with a 2x converter, just in case something else pops up.

Feedback

Golden hour should be called golden minute, the light happens quickly. So get up early and be at you spot well in advance so you are ready when the right light happens. Twilight is half an hour before sunrise where really beautiful light can happen so I suggest you be at your spot about at least 20-30 min before that. Early i know but worth it, take a torch :). Don't just plan for the shot you're going out for, plan for everything else. Finally, know your equipment backwards, so you can re-adjust your settings quickly if you need to to get the shot.

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Alannixon

Alannixon

PANI DAM SUNRISE PADDLER

Behind The Lens

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