Dune Fence at Sunrise

[PhotoRob]

Anytime I'm able to I try and get a shot of the dune fences at the beach, but I can't for the life of me knock down that morning sun without 'tarnishing' the areas around it in the photo.

Any Aperture users out there that can recommend how to blend the sun within a shot in a natural way? Thanks in advance. All other C&C welcome..

[Donald]

Rob - The problem is that the sun is bright - very bright. Anything with direct sunlight in it is going to blow big-time.

If you need the sun up and in the shot in order to get that lighting on the fence (and it is beautiful), then the sacrifice is to have blown highlights in the sky. Even extreme bracketing and using HDR ain't going to get you back from that situation. You could do a bracket and at least get the area around the sun back a bit, but your not going to get the sun itself

ps - I changed the title from 'dunce' to 'dune'. I take it that was a typo. And if not, sorry. I don't think you're a dunce.

[rtbaum]

I must admit though........I really wanted see a dunce fence. Would taking this shot half an hour earlier have worked?

[PhotoRob]

Rob - The problem is that the sun is bright - very bright. Anything with direct sunlight in it is going to blow big-time.

If you need the sun up and in the shot in order to get that lighting on the fence (and it is beautiful), then the sacrifice is to have blown highlights in the sky. Even extreme bracketing and using HDR ain't going to get you back from that situation. You could do a bracket and at least get the area around the sun back a bit, but your not going to get the sun itself

ps - I changed the title from 'dunce' to 'dune'. I take it that was a typo. And if not, sorry. I don't think you're a dunce.

Thanks for the feedback Donald, and I very much appreciate correcting that typo (no more late night posts!)

[PhotoRob]

I must admit though........I really wanted see a dunce fence. Would taking this shot half an hour earlier have worked?

Until that sun peeps over the waves you really don't get the same 'washed over' effect - that said, I will be reshooting this and will make more pre-dawn attempts; thought was maybe to get some foliage to block the direct sun from the lens...