Mumbles Sunrise (Help with sun exposure)

[Rebel]

Here are 2 shots I took this morning... I feel the first one is okay but I can never get the exposure on the sun right.

I was going for the sunburst effect but failed miserably. Any words of wisdom?

EXIF: f14 / 1/30 / ISO100

Anyway here is the image, C&C welcome.




The second image I completely overexposed the sun so I converted it to mono, added some grain etc. And sort of turned it into a silhouette image.

[Shadowman]

You did achieve the sunburst effect, problem is the overall exposure is too high to appreciate the shape. You can try to tone down the adjoining colors, perhaps dodge/burn. To do in camera you may need to use a filter.

[Polar01]

Matt, I find for myself I do not tend to get or go for a sunburst effect, what has helped is using a 2-stop reverse GND filter, this really helps to knock down the sun when on or close to the horizion.

Cheers: Allan

[Manfred M]

The other approach is, of course HDRI. With the high dynamic range in the image, that is definitely an option as this is exactly the situation you are facing.

I don't own a reverse grad, as I tend to not like shooting directly into the sun at sunset.

[Rebel]

The other approach is, of course HDRI. With the high dynamic range in the image, that is definitely an option as this is exactly the situation you are facing.

I don't own a reverse grad, as I tend to not like shooting directly into the sun at sunset.

I think thats the option I'll be going for.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Matt Nik Software has a HDR part, I haven't tried it yet but it might help. I tried Photoshop's HDR function once and I didn't like the result . But I saw some HDR images processed with Nik on the internet and they weren't bad at all.

IMO your B&W treatment works nice .

[Rebel]

Hi Matt Nik Software has a HDR part, I haven't tried it yet but it might help. I tried Photoshop's HDR function once and I didn't like the result . But I saw some HDR images processed with Nik on the internet and they weren't bad at all.

IMO your B&W treatment works nice .

Thanks Binnur, I'll give that a try.

I just posted a colour version of that image here: Watching The Sun Come Up

[IzzieK]

I like the mono version better...