Advice please. Shooting into the sun @ sunrise

You, sir, and folks like you, are THE exact reason I stopped going on web forums.

Actually, I'd wager that the reason you stopped going on web forums is that you kept getting banned from them, after joining, posting 3 posts and then insulting people with a holier than thou attitude.

Nice job!

Anyway, to the case at hand...


There's several ways to approach this

Filters
Photoshop blending
Don't shoot into the sun!


Filters

Don't buy cheap ones, also, I'd avoid the Lee resin filters if you can. I've moved over to another system recently after I got fed up with having to replace them every year or so, salt water and general use seems to scratch them quite easily and at £100 a pop there's only so many times I can justify replacing my 3 stop ND Grad (3 times so far!), added in, the circular polariser is a pain to get on and off (even with the quick attach kit), you will get flare and artifacts as there will always be something on the filter or lens to diffract the light.

Photoshop

Like already mentioned, stick your finger over the sun and blend the images in post

If I'm shooting the sun I tend to do both, I'll use filters and also stick my finger over the sun and blend in post to get rid of the artifacts,although these days i'm moving more down the luminosity blending route as you get far superior results if you don;t mind putting the time in post.

BUT

I don't tend to actually shoot into the sun these days! Try putting the sun to the side, the best most interesting light tends to be side light, when you start out you tend to shoot into the sun all the time (I did) until you realise this, you can still get the feeling of the sun by having it just out of frame, bleeding light in from a corner, there are times though when you want the sun in so go for the first two options, but buy and large, when shooting a sunrise/sunset, TURN AROUND and look to the side/behind you!
 
Last edited:
I don't think I've ever taken 35 shots for one image. The thought of that isn't up my street lol

To be fair, it wasn't really 35 shots as such, the camera is set up to take 5 exposures (-2, -1, 0 +1, +2 EV) and I just did the 7 shots to create the pano while the camera did the bracketing automatically. But I was left with 35 RAW files to process. I need to learn more about processing these files, but I was reasonable pleased with the resulting image. (The sun was behind clouds for this one....)
 
To be fair, it wasn't really 35 shots as such, the camera is set up to take 5 exposures (-2, -1, 0 +1, +2 EV) and I just did the 7 shots to create the pano while the camera did the bracketing automatically. But I was left with 35 RAW files to process. I need to learn more about processing these files, but I was reasonable pleased with the resulting image. (The sun was behind clouds for this one....)

Normally you should only need 2 or at most 3 shots for a full exposure; the more you have the more mess you might expect as a tradeoff for 1-2% cleaner shadows.

35 I believe is still nothing in comparison with timelapse numbers! That's 30 frames for 1 second provided they are single frame exposures. No wonder I don't fancy doing it, let alone they are becoming less fashionable since a decent 4K and now 8K video are available.
 
Filters

Don't buy cheap ones, also, I'd avoid the Lee resin filters if you can. I've moved over to another system recently after I got fed up with having to replace them every year or so, salt water and general use seems to scratch them quite easily and at £100 a pop there's only so many times I can justify replacing my 3 stop ND Grad (3 times so far!), added in, the circular polariser is a pain to get on and off (even with the quick attach kit), you will get flare and artifacts as there will always be something on the filter or lens to diffract the light.

I agree. You need glass multicoated ones to make them worthwhile. Of course they will be very prone to smashing if dropped, far more than you regular round CPL. They are only really beneficial if the separation line is basically straight and clean cut, like seascape horizon.
I got really fed up with Lee at the end of my journey with them.

Photoshop

Like already mentioned, stick your finger over the sun and blend the images in post

The finger trick is only for extreme cases or certain lenses. Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS can flare really badly. This one was one of the few times where finger was necessary, in addition it required focus bracketing, and each of that was bracketed into 3 exposures (a bit redundant). It was real fun to assemble. Any time you shoot landscapes with foreground at >50mm you need to blend and most likely focus stack.

Cotswold Popies by Daugirdas Tomas Racys, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
I don't tend to actually shoot into the sun these days! Try putting the sun to the side, the best most interesting light tends to be side light, when you start out you tend to shoot into the sun all the time (I did) until you realise this, you can still get the feeling of the sun by having it just out of frame, bleeding light in from a corner, there are times though when you want the sun in so go for the first two options, but buy and large, when shooting a sunrise/sunset, TURN AROUND and look to the side/behind you!

For me it's this. I just don't particularly enjoy shots with the sun actually in them - the strong sun always pulls the eye away from the rest of the scene. I prefer the light it brings so will always compose and arrive at a time when the sun will be behind me or to my side. All of these are single exposures and bar the middle none even had a resin filter. I prefer to use the "light" at sunrise and sunset, and get the colours in the land or sky - rather than the sun itself.

_DSC3113 - Version 3 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC5247 - 1x1 Version 2 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC2519 - 5x4 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Back
Top