Sunrises - What combo should I use? Follow-up - My photos have spots!

Hi All -

Tomorrow morning is suppose to be a clear sky morning & I plan to finally crawl out of bed early and take pictures of the sunrise. Now that the sun rises at around 6 a.m., I should be able to handle this after a few cups of coffee!

The sun rises over Lake Michigan and I am undecided which lens/filter, settingscombo to use with my 7D. I don't want to end up with a lot of glare off the lake. I know the advice I can get here is much safer than going with my own better judgement since the sun won't exactly wait for me to make up my mind! [:P] I'm really hoping for this to go well!

Here's my choices ...

35mm w/ ND filter (#103, 8x)
85mm w/ UV or ND (#103, 8x)
17-55mm, 24-105mm, 100-400mm - UV or Circ. Pol.
70-200mm or 100mm Macro IS - UV or Circ. Pol.

Also, from what I'm told there are sometimes a few people parasailing at that time of the a.m. so if I see any, I'd love to get them in a shot!

Thanks much for any/all advice you can give me!

Denise

Hey Denise,


hmm well normally I would say that water+wide-angle is a perfect combination.


Therefor I would at least take the 17-55 to have maximum wide-angle. The circular polarizer could deal with annoying reflections etc. IF they are present. I personally like water with reflection rather than see-trough water. But it depends mostly on the situation. Plus, filters are easy to carry along, so I would suggest you to take it.


And then I'm thinking...a lens with ND filter-water combination could also make a very shot. So for some longer exposed photos, you might want to consider the 35 or 85mm with ND filter. I prefer wider lenses, but it's up to you.

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

Also, from what I'm told there are sometimes a few people parasailing at that time of the a.m. so if I see any, I'd love to get them in a shot!

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Then take either the 70-200 or the 100-400 with you as well. I'm not sure which one I would prefer. Since lighting-conditions may be too difficult for the 100-400's f5.6 maximum aperture. Perhaps taking the 70-200 and bring the 1.4 extender would be a nice idea?


About the UV filters. If you are fine shooting without one it could prevent some extra flare if you detach them.


Well I think I covered pretty much everything I would think of. Oh yeah don't forget the tripod [;)]


Good luck waking up! I must say that I struggled a bit yesterdaymorning.... the warm-bed/cold-outside dilemma made me think twice[A]


Good luck and enjoy it,


Jan

If there are waves you want to blur, I'd go with the 35L and the ND filter (as a side note, consider a simple 72mm-77mm step-up ring so you can use your CPL with your 35L). If there's a harbor with a lot of sailboats, for example, that might make a nice wide shot so the 17mm would be good. Personally I'm not a huge fan of a large expanse of water and a tiny sun at the horizon. A lot of sunrise/sunset pictures are taken with long lenses so the sun is large in the frame. A single sailboat silhouetted against the rising sun, shot at 400mm, can be beautiful. The 100-400mm will be needed for parasailers, too.


Try to keep the horizon away from the middle of the frame. Cloudless skies can be a little uninteresting, so it might be better to frame with the sky in just the upper third or so of the frame. If there are interesting cloud formations, letting the sky fill the majority of the frame works well.


For exposure, spot metering a few degrees to one side of the sun and using AE lock usually works well. You could also bracket the exposures, to be safe.


Have fun getting up early and shooting!


--John

Thanks for the input! I do think I'll bring a number of lenses with but the 100-400mm will be what I start out with and quickly switching to the 17-55mm if necessary ...and yes, the tripod is coming along. I've been bad not using it much lately. Also, rain is moving in but hopefully it just gives me some decent clouds come morning! I do prefer getting more sky than water also unless there is a boat out there.

Thanks Much!

Denise

Well, this did not have the makin's for a good sunrise photo shoot to start with! To bed at 1 a.m. &up @ 5 a.m., coffee's brewing but definitely NOT strong enough! As I'm drinking my first cup of coffee, I check out the weather update, well, last night they predicted clear skies but 30% chance of rain isn't too bad. I step outside gear in hand and I can see the sky is covered in thick clouds! I am NOT stopping now ...as I'm heading to the lake it starts to rain![:(]

The rain stopped as soon as I arrived at the lake but needless to say, I could not see the sunrise thru the clouds when it first started to appear. Nor was there any parasailing going on. I did learn a great deal though for next time at least! #1 - Go to bed earlier! #2 - Don't believe the weather forecasters! #3 - If your going to use a 400mm lens, wake up enough to know if you have it extended to 400mm before you take the shots! DUH!

Well, here's my first attempt (theylooked better on my monitor before I uploaded them)...


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/...39068c0b6a.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/...89a0b28c0b.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/...776fca725d.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/...ae341132c7.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/...fb304846d4.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/...23659cb3d5.jpg

Great shots. Give us some EXIF data. I am leaving on a cruise thursday and hope to get some sunset pics. I plan on being a sleep during sunrise.


Mark

Hey Denise,


Those are great! Number 3 is my favorite with the 2 birds and I like that you have more sky and less water.., the clouds and Sun look awesome. I like #4 too, because I like the reflection of the Sun on the water, as well as the cloud formation, but it does look a little dark on the bottom right side. #5 is brighter, but less clouds. So, #3 is definitely my favorite!


Great Job!


So, tell us a little bit about the settings, filters, and set-up that you used.





Rich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clemmb

Great shots. Give us some EXIF data. I am leaving on a cruise thursday and hope to get some sunset pics. I plan on being a sleep during sunrise.


Mark
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Thanks, Mark! Boy, I wish I could say I took these while on a cruise but unfortunately they were taken 5 mins. from my house!

First off, all shots were taken with my 7D &amp;100-400mm except the last one of the boat. That one was with the 70-200mm f/4 IS. The ones with the 100-400mm were at 100mm (because I'm retarded when I'm half asleep)! I had a UV filter on the 100-400 and a Circ. Pol. on the 70-200mm which would have been better for both.

I followed Scott Kelby's advice ..."The Trick for Warmer Sunrises and Sunsets" - Choose Cloudy for your white balance and in the menu under WB SHIFT/BKT mve the dot in the middle of the grid to A3.

I also used AEB but now wish I would have had the zero point adjusted more towarded the lighter end than I did.

If you click on each photo, it should bring you to my flickr acct. which you can get the full EXIF data under the "Actions" tab on the upper left. otherwise I can post it here later.

Enjoy your cruise!!

Denise

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Richard Lane

Hey Denise,


Those are great! Number 3 is my favorite with the 2 birds and I like that you have more sky and less water.., the clouds and Sun look awesome. I like #4 too, because I like the reflection of the Sun on the water, as well as the cloud formation, but it does look a little dark on the bottom right side. #5 is brighter, but less clouds. So, #3 is definitely my favorite!


Great Job!


So, tell us a little bit about the settings, filters, and set-up that you used.





Rich
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Thanks, Rich! It really means alot to me when I get a thumbs up from you guys here! I posted alot of the details above and if you click on the photo hopefully you can see more EXIF detail. With #3 - I see now that I did have the ISO set to 160 &amp; #1 and #2 are at 250. Also, #1 is at +2/3 EV, #2 at +1/3 EV and #3 is at EV 0. I don't know how relevant any of this is since I did do some post processing in DPP. In a couple photos, I did see some glare spots but not to many.

Thanks again! [:)]

Denise

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

Boy, I wish I could say I took these while on a cruise but unfortunately they were taken 5 mins. from my house!
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I wish I could find scenery this nice 5 minutes from my house. South Texas is mostly just flat and ugly.


My favorite shot is #5. Great work for being half a sleep.


Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clemmb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

Boy, I wish I could say I took these while on a cruise but unfortunately they were taken 5 mins. from my house!

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I wish I could find scenery this nice 5 minutes from my house. South Texas is mostly just flat and ugly.

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I'm with you on that one! It looks pretty beautiful Denise! So much space! I guess my advice for a wide-angle is solid advice for where I live, but your spot has this massive space! Really cool! Definitely worth it. And to be honest I think I like some clouds in a sky, instead of a whole clear sky.



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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

Well, this did not have the makin's for a good sunrise photo shoot to start with! To bed at 1 a.m. &amp;up @ 5 a.m.

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Exactly the problem I encountered last saturdaymorning [:P]



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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

#3 - If your going to use a 400mm lens, wake up enough to know if you have it extended to 400mm before you take the shots! DUH!

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Haha well I guess everybody makes that mistake from time to time [A]Do you even remember how you got to the location?...sleep<s>walking</s>driving[:P]
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Oh and I guess a ND filter wouldn't have made a good slow shutter-speed shot here, since there's so much space. At least I'm not seeing the potential.


By the way have fun on the cruise Mark [;)]


Jan

Great shots, Denise! I like #3 best as well, the birds add some additional interest. A few clouds in a sunrise/sunset shot are better than a clear sky, IMO.

Thanks, John :) This one would have been a keeper BUT what are those little circles on the lower right side above the water!!?? [:(] I noticed it on a number of the lighter shots ...that's why mostly the darker ones ended up as keepers!

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This one I can even see the dirty spots at the top [:'(]...

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