What I Learned From My First Sunrise Photo Outing (with pics)

[annnewjerz]

1. If the high for the day is going to be 45*, it will be much colder than that at 4:30am. Dress appropriately.
2. I'm not too big on "landscape" photos. I love looking at them and even enjoyed taking them...but the end result was just a little, boring. I'll have to work on this.
3. I need a new ballhead for my tripod. The one I have seems to slip every once in a while, which this morning caused some blurry shots. It also doesn't pan, which would have been nice.
4. Gloves are important when taking photos in February in NJ. I didn't have any, and it took a LONG time until I got feeling back in my fingers.


So, this morning I got up at 4:00am to begin my first low-light photo outing. The day started out ROUGH. I picked up my bag to head out to the car and heard one of the worst sounds ever...my camera falling from the dining room table to the wood floor. It almost pained me to look over, thinking a lens would have been broken off...luckily, everything looked to be in tact. I picked up the camera and while my immediate thought should have been "Thank goodness it's not broken!!!", instead it was "Thank goodness it was my crappy kit lens that was attached" and "Man, that might have been my shot at getting an upgraded body sooner!!" The camera took a pretty nice blow but in the end, it was just fine.

The plan was to drive to Barnegat Lighthouse and take shots of sunrise and then drive to Ocean City to take some shots of the deserted Boardwalk and meet up with my boss for breakfast with his family. We got to the Lighthouse on time, but was disappointed to see the sun was rising across from the Old Barney rather than behind or next to, which I would have liked. Took a bunch of shots, froze my BUTT OFF and hopped in the car for our next destination. Got to the Ocean City Airport to meet with my boss (who was flying himself in with his family) for breakfast. Had some aweeeeesome pancakes and took some shots of my favorite subject (his daughter---1 1/2 years old and SO CUTE) and then decided to scrap the Boardwalk. It was just too cold and as usual, we had to get home in time to let the doggies out before we came home to a mess.

So, I'll cut myself off now, and here are some of my favorite shots of the day, mixed in with some others I took earlier of my sister's new pit-bull puppy, Dharma.

Nothing special, but I liked the color and the milky effect on the water from the long exposure.

The jetty along the beach.

Old Barney.

Boat trolling for fish.

The sun is finally up. I never noticed how orange it makes everything.

Self portrait. DH and I standing next to eachother kicking up our legs.

Old Barney one last time.

Yael at the airport.

All packed up and ready to go.

Dharma has obviously grown tired of playing with her tennis ball.

Pooped.

 

[ukcatfan]

Anne, just one thing. The rule of thirds would have done a lot for the landscape shots posted. You put the horizon in the middle on all the ones you posted except the last lighthouse, which is IMO the best one.

 

[My2Girls66]

Very nice! We've been to LBI twice in recent years for family reunions- even stay at a motel not all that far from the lighthouse yet I haven't gone to take any close up pictures of it. DH and I stayed near Atlantic City for a few months and in Imlaystown(when DH's brother lived there) for a few months years ago. DH's best friend lives in Howell. We've taken many trips to the beaches on our visits. I love the Jersey shore! Thanks for the photos

 

[Steve's Girl]

Anne, just one thing. The rule of thirds would have done a lot for the landscape shots posted. You put the horizon in the middle on all the ones you posted except the last lighthouse, which is IMO the best one.

That is exactly what I was thinking. When you put the horizon in the middle of the photo, your eye doesn't really know what to look at. The photo is split in half. Is the photo about the sky or the ground? By putting the horizon lower or higher, you create more visual interest. Take a photo of the same scene with the horizon in different positions in the photo and see what a difference it makes. You could even try cropping a few of yours to experiment.

I think you have some nice photos and with a little cropping, they will look a lot less boring. I think the first one would be very nice if you cropped from the upper left corner down a little.

 

[jann1033]

i like the lighthouse with the self portrait...looks like a chinese character in the sand which imo is pretty inventive. in that one you might have been able to crop out a little of the "legs" and add a little more sky and off center the horizon. that way the light house and legs would probably both be close to a rot line/intersection which would make them more obviously the point(s) of interest. i'll tell you though, this is partially what i was asking about recently in a thread, I compose for rot and by the time I have to crop to fit a frame it's no place near what I planned on which really annoys me. yesterday i left tons more than i normally did an hope that helped( haven't converted them yet) but i still end up cropping out a good third of the photo which annoys me since it really limits the ability to get anyplace close to the subject and still have a nice sky and foreground.

one thing i have read about landscapes (that naturally works better in summer or FL, ie someplace nice and warm) is to walk around and check out different angles.in most of the photos you have something like rocks for interest in the foreground but probably adding something like the horizon off center as mentioned then the sky ( would have been nice if it would have cooperated with some clouds) would have helped maybe with the front /middle/back interest? and i thing the jetty one would be really nice if you could have taken it some place it wasn't straight but more diagonal? might not be possible due to the location but always something to think of next time( not that it's an area all that close to you evidently but shows your resolve )

something i am trying to do more is go out and look for stuff to shoot before i drag myself out to shoot in the early am or at dusk. just not enough time then for me to figure out what i want to take. and at least in my area it's not like it's a real scenic area, more like you have to find something to make the scene and take the photo. ie yesterday i went to find this whole tour of covered bridges in our area but only found 2 and one was surrounded by 5+ft mounds of snow, private property then of course the sun was setting on the side of the bridge i couldn't get to and for some reason, the sun isn't setting in the west but southwest everywhere i go..ok who moved the earth?

 

[annnewjerz]

Kevin and Wendy--thanks for the CC and suggestions on how to make these better. I agree, I didn't pay attention to the Rule of Thirds AT ALL, mainly because I was too busy paying attention to all of the other things that seemed to be going wrong (my ballhead slipping, the wind shaking the camera, trying to set up in the dark because I didn't bring a flashlight). Now looking back, I realize that it doesn't matter if my ballhead is perfectly still or if there is not a single gust of wind of the shot I'm working so hard at getting isn't properly composed and if in the end it just makes me yawn.

One thing I think would have helped me (personally) was if there was actually something to focus on rather than just the ocean and sun, something in the foreground with the sun in the background, which was what I was hoping would be the case with the lighthouse.

I haven't done any cropping yet, these were for the most part just straight out of the camera because I didn't want to edit them last night. I was trying to learn to crop less, but maybe I'll have to put that off until the next outing.

I think I may take the camera out this weekend to the river and try to do some long exposures when the sun is rising over the Burlington Bristol Bridge. For me, having the bridge to shoot or some other elements in the shot other than the horizon and sun may be a little more interesting.

 

[annnewjerz]

and i thing the jetty one would be really nice if you could have taken it some place it wasn't straight but more diagonal? might not be possible due to the location but always something to think of next time( not that it's an area all that close to you evidently but shows your resolve )

something i am trying to do more is go out and look for stuff to shoot before i drag myself out to shoot in the early am or at dusk. just not enough time then for me to figure out what i want to take. and at least in my area it's not like it's a real scenic area, more like you have to find something to make the scene and take the photo.

That was one thing I wished I was able to do. The last time I had been to Barnegat Light was literally YEARS ago and what I remembered was NOT what was there. I was limited by shooting on the tip of the island, mainly from this walkway with railings because if I shot from the beach to try to get the horizon, the railings would have been smack dab in the middle of the shot. Next time, I think I'll pick a location I'm a bit more familiar with that I can scope out ahead of time, see if there are any shots I think will work and then go back to shoot them.

I don't know if I was just not in the mood to go out and shoot, or if I was really that uninspired, but I was really disappointed with what I saw when I got there at 6:00am on Sunday and tried to make the best of it. Unfortunately once we showed up I was actually more interested in driving the 1.5 hours to Ocean City because I knew I would get to take some shots of my boss' daughter who ends up being more fun.

Oh well, learn from your mistakes, right??

 

[TiffanyK]

Oh well, learn from your mistakes, right??

It sounds to me like you learned a lot. Thanks for sharing the lessons with the rest of us. I love to learn from all of you

 

[My2Girls66]

Anne, I give you A LOT of credit for going out! Especially that early. I find it really hard to get inspired to take pictures when its this cold out. I've been taking my dslr to the town forest with me lately to snowshoe(usually I take my p&s just in case I see something cool like a deer- I never do see anything and I would never be able to get the camera out and gloves off quick enough anyway)- DH spotted a pileated woodpecker on one trip and wants a photo of it. I dread taking my gloves off to take a picture because its been SO COLD that they get cold quickly and its hard to warm 'em up! My dog will be running thru the snow or sticking her whole head into a snow pile and I'll say to myself- that would be a cute picture. By the time I can get the gloves off its too late! She's moved on. For those of you who live in the south- it has been unbelieveably bitter cold up here this winter. Single digits and below zero for much of January. Today is supposed to get up to 40!!! Thats like a heatwave. Then its going to get really cold again for the rest of the week.

 

[annnewjerz]

Anne, I give you A LOT of credit for going out! Especially that early. I find it really hard to get inspired to take pictures when its this cold out.

I give myself a lot of credit, I am NOT a morning person by any means and on top of it, DH was nice enough to roll out of bed with me and go along for the trip. I definitely had a good time, just wasn't quite the experience I was hoping for.

Today is supposed to get up to 40!!! Thats like a heatwave. Then its going to get really cold again for the rest of the week.

Yesterday the high was supposed to be 45* so I was thrilled that was the day I decided to take pictures. I didn't know, however, it would be so windy. I can't tell you the last time I was so cold. I had on UnderArmor, sweatshirt, scarf and after sitting in the car with the seat warmer and the heat going, I wasn't really warmed up for probably a good 45 minutes. The most important thing I forgot were gloves.

If it wasn't for the fact I was using my remote shutter release and could keep my hands stuffed inside of my sleeves, I would have packed it up and called it a day MUCH sooner.

 

[JR6ooo4]

another tip:
That sun (though it takes all day to get a cross the sky) rises and sets extremely quickly when you re trying to get a shot.

I have been driving home after work and see a beautiful sunset forming. Before I can get to a picturesque location it is all over.
Mikeeee

 

[annnewjerz]

another tip:
That sun (though it takes all day to get a cross the sky) rises and sets extremely quickly when you re trying to get a shot.

I have been driving home after work and see a beautiful sunset forming. Before I can get to a picturesque location it is all over.
Mikeeee

TELL ME ABOUT IT! I got there and started setting up while it was still dark and the sky was just starting to show some color and before I knew it, the sun was rising over the horizon. I was probably there for about 45 minutes to an hour and went from complete dark to the sun well above the horizon.

 

[Suburbanmom]

I love that first picture of Dharma and think it is composed very well.
What a beauty!!

 

[handicap18]

Nice job overall Ann. I agree with the others about the Rule of 3rds thingy. That first lighthouse is very nice. Great light that early in the morning. I'm always up before dawn (at least on work days) and I love the early morning light. I see way to much good light and wish I was taking pictures instead of working.

 

[spinetnglr]

Good job Ann for your first sunrise outing ... and to get up at that hour to go get set up to try and get a few good shots takes some oompf here in the northeast with the cold weather we have been having. I have seen many many sunrises back when I used to do alot of flounder fishing in Ocean City Maryland and I know how quickly those few minutes of special light disappear. I only wish I would have had a digital camera back then when I was on the bay every weekend before sunrise.

I love how you framed the little girl in the airplane window ... nice picture!! And I agree with Suburbanmom about the picture of Dharma. Shes a beauty and your picture shows it.