Help please! Focus for sunrise

Crazyhorse

Crazyhorse

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Hi

I'm on holiday and fortunate to be just across the road from the beach.

I got up at 5am this morning and witnessed the most glorious sunrise.

However, this was my first attempt and I've just viewed the shots on the tv (as I can't dowload as I'm not on my computer). Anyway I need help please so I can improve for tomorrow morning (subject to weather conditions).

There's no foreground interest (no rocks, boats, stuff on the beach etc), so I had to go for just the sea and the sky/sun.

I shot in manual but what should I be focussing on? I know you're supposed to focus a third of the way in, but I'm not sure whether to focus on the sea or the sky or the sun. My shots don't really look sharp to be honest.

Any tips, help etc would be greatly appreciated.:lol:

Many thanks.

LIsa
 
kennysarmy said:
do your "sharp" shots look sharp on the tv?
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Hi

Thanks for the reply.

They look fine on the tv till you zoom right in to maximum. I was shooting from f/11 to f/22 with a polorizer and grads on. As I say, it's all new to me so I was experimenting.

LIsa
 
Chaz Photos said:
I would stop down to F8 to F16 and switch to Manual focus and focus about half way. If there is no foreground rocks are there any trees you might frame the shot with
Click to expand...

Hi Thanks for the reply.

I was shooting in manual but whey you say focus half way, what am I supposed to be focussing on?

There are some sand dunes, I took a few shots with the grass as foreground but to be honest, when the sun started coming up, I was sooooooo excited. I kept the sun to right of the shot, rather than in the middle so my brain must have engaged at some point.:lol:

Lisa
 
Chaz Photos said:
If you shot in Jpeg then set WB to daylight to keep the reds
Click to expand...

Thanks but I only shoot in raw. Some of the colours are stunning but as I say, I'd love to have more of an idea for tomorrow.

Lisa
 
Depends on what lens your using some have a window with the distance on some don’t I was cover both as go to infinite and then come back but if you have a distance scale then you can just rotate to a distance of some point on your scale Hope you can understand what I am getting at?
 
Chaz Photos said:
Depends on what lens your using some have a window with the distance on some don’t I was cover both as go to infinite and then come back but if you have a distance scale then you can just rotate to a distance of some point on your scale Hope you can understand what I am getting at?
Click to expand...

Hi

I used two cameras and two lenses.

I have a 40d with a Canon 20- 35 and also 400d with Canon 70-200 2.8L. Don't ask me which filters I used as I can't remember. I'm really annoyed too because I forgot to bring the tripod collar for the 70-200 (that's at home) and THEN I realised when I was on the beach that I hadn't brought the knife I use to unscrew the tripod thing so the shots taken with the 70-200. although make the sun look massive, I had to shoot them hand held (at around f/4 to try and avoid camera shake) and thinking about it, that's probably why some don't look as sharp. :bonk: But the others taken on the tripod arn't 100% spot on. I have got some lovely rays showing on the shots though.

Sorry, please could you elaborate (sorry to sound dim). I appreciate if I was shooting something like trees in the hills, I'd have something to focus on but with it just being sand, sea and sky/sun I'm still not sure what to focus on. I have to say though the colours of the sky look amazing when I viewed them back on the tv, so at least I'm happy with that.

Lisa
 
Crazyhorse said:
Hi

I used two cameras and two lenses.

I have a 40d with a Canon 20- 35 and also 400d with Canon 70-200 2.8L. Don't ask me which filters I used as I can't remember. I'm really annoyed too because I forgot to bring the tripod collar for the 70-200 (that's at home) and THEN I realised when I was on the beach that I hadn't brought the knife I use to unscrew the tripod thing so the shots taken with the 70-200. although make the sun look massive, I had to shoot them hand held (at around f/4 to try and avoid camera shake) and thinking about it, that's probably why some don't look as sharp. :bonk: But the others taken on the tripod arn't 100% spot on. I have got some lovely rays showing on the shots though.

Sorry, please could you elaborate (sorry to sound dim). I appreciate if I was shooting something like trees in the hills, I'd have something to focus on but with it just being sand, sea and sky/sun I'm still not sure what to focus on. I have to say though the colours of the sky look amazing when I viewed them back on the tv, so at least I'm happy with that.

Lisa
Click to expand...

You don't necessarily need to focus ON anything. To get everything in focus from foreground to background you need to focus somewhere in the middle. Then your depth of field will extend in both directions to get everything in focus.

Depth of field depends on aperture, larger aperture (smaller f number) =
less DoF, smaller aperture = more DoF.

It is often said that you need to focus about 1/3 of the way into a picture, but this can vary.

Don't focus on sky or sun, they are both a very long way away;)

when you look at the pics, are they sharp in the middle, or at the back or the front? Examine them and that will help. If unsharp all over - camera shake? Is the TV a good way to look at them - I've never tried.
 
Hi

Thanks for the reply, I'll give it another go tomorrow morning. Just hope the sunrise is as stunning as it was this morning.

Lisa
 
Crazyhorse said:
They look fine on the tv till you zoom right in to maximum. I was shooting from f/11 to f/22 with a polorizer and grads on. As I say, it's all new to me so I was experimenting.

LIsa
Click to expand...

I spot 3 problems here:
Narrow apertures cause diffraction which decreases sharpness. How badly the images are affected depends on your lens, but I'd be tempted to shy away from f22 unless you really really need the wide depth of field or slow shutter speed.

You've got 2 filters on. Anything you stick in front of your lens will reduce image quality. The cheaper the filter, the worse the effect.

You're viewing them at maximum magnification blown up bleeding huge on a telly. I'm not sure any image would look sharp viewed like that.

Forget how they look on the telly. View them on your computer when you are able and view them at a reasonable size, then see how they look.
 
The Matt said:
I spot 3 problems here:
Narrow apertures cause diffraction which decreases sharpness. How badly the images are affected depends on your lens, but I'd be tempted to shy away from f22 unless you really really need the wide depth of field or slow shutter speed.

You've got 2 filters on. Anything you stick in front of your lens will reduce image quality. The cheaper the filter, the worse the effect.

You're viewing them at maximum magnification blown up bleeding huge on a telly. I'm not sure any image would look sharp viewed like that.

Forget how they look on the telly. View them on your computer when you are able and view them at a reasonable size, then see how they look.
Click to expand...

Hi

Thanks for the reply, good point about the tv, it's an old tv, never thought about that either.

I have Hi Tec filters and the polarizer is a Heliopan circular one.

As you say, I'll have more of an idea when I'm back at home and can put them on my computer.:)

Thanks

Lisa
 
Lots of potential problems already metioned. To highlight a few:

If you want the sunset sharp, ie sun, clouds, sky, horizon, then focus on infinity.
If you also want foregound and far distance sharp, focus on hyperfocal distance at the right f/number to give you the depth of field you need. You can get your hyperfocal distance settings from here: www.dofmaster.com

You need a fast shutter speed or tripod to eliminate blurring through camera shake.

Stacking filters won't do sharpness any good. Long lenses are particularly susceptible to less than perfect filters.
 
If there's no foreground interest where you are, I'd think about scouting round for a location where there is, then get up a bit earlier and go there...
 
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