Photowalk 35 - Dawn Patrol!

I finally managed to drag myself out of bed at 0600, grabbed my camera and headed down to Priddys Hard once more, but this time with the hope of capturing some nice "golden hour" Sunrise shots.

The sky looked good, not the blanket of gray we've had over the last few days, but the light was coming fast - I had to run down to the first location to catch the sky before the Sun crept over the horizon...

Destroyers At Dawn II Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F3.5, 1/400th, ISO 100, Focal Length 10mm, Hand-held

As I pulled my Fujifilm S5700 out of my camera bag I could see that the Sun was up, but hidden by some low clouds, so I dropped to one knee, put my camera in exposure bracketing and framed my composition, trying to get the reflection on the stream and the silhouette of the scrap destroyers.

In all of the photographs I used Photoshop Elements to enhance the colour, mostly through overlay and soft-light levels adjustment layers - with a hint of colour burn in a couple just to make the Sunrise a tad richer.

Priddys Hard Sunrise Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/350th, ISO 64, Focal Length 8mm, Hand-held

Best Viewed Big.

You may have noticed that I shot all of these photographs hand-held - this is because I was amazed at how fast the Sun was coming up, and the way the light was changing. The sky started off a lovely golden colour, but within minutes it was brightening up, and I was losing those lovely tones.

After the Destroyers shot I had about another 5 minute walk to get to the slip-way where all the boats were, all the time hurrying myself along, not wanting to miss the opportunities of a great Sunrise!

Dawn Breaks Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F6.8, 1/420th, ISO 64, Focal Length 9mm, Hand-held

I almost fell flat on my arse while taking the above photo. The cobblestones of the slipway were slick with algae, and as I framed my shot I slid across them, just saving myself from an embarrassing fall with an outstretched hand!

It was quite tricky getting the exposure right in these conditions. I was shooting aperture priority, but had to keep switching the ISO and aperture depending on how close I metered to the Sun. This was one of the first Photowalks where I really started to review the histogram after each shot, checking that not too much detail had blown out.

Roosting Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F6.3, 1/100th, ISO 64, Focal Length 9mm, Hand-held

Gotta have a black and white treatment!

At Least A Suns Caress Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F3.5, 1/420th, ISO 200, Focal Length 19mm, Hand-held

If you've looked at any of my previous photographs from Priddys Hard you'll notice that there's quite a few wrecks. I tried to use them as foreground interest, but all were just too dark compared to the sky, but I liked the reflected colours on this one. Its just a shame about the distracting reflections at the top of the frame.

Phew! My first Dawn Photowalk! I loved the light, but was surprised at how fast it changed in character, I guess if I'd come out a little earlier I could have captured more of the pre-dawn glow - but I know one thing, when landscape pro's say only shoot around Dawn and Dusk, I understand that now!

What I do need to do is drag my camera away from taking pictures of the Sun, and concentrate on the beautiful colours it's bathing everything else in. Next time...

Cheers, Rob.