It’s 5:30 a.m and you’re good to go after rechecking your sun forecast photography tools. Your corner of the world is still chasing dreams. Except for you. The coffee is brewing while you’re rechecking your camera bags and loading the car. You need to be out of the door and at your destination by 6:15 since sunrise is at 6:53. Hurry up.
Hurry up only to watch, breathe and wait. Breathing and waiting is a good thing!
Many of our best images happen as a result of watching for the moments, what captures our eye versus planning perfect shot.
Your time and timing is crucial. A few minutes of missed sunrise considerably changes color and composition.
Sun Forecast Photography Tools
Wunderground and other weather apps accurately track sunrise times on your laptop or smartphone so you can set your schedule the evening before. The Photographers Ephemeris will share times, elevations, directions of sunrises, sunsets, moonrises and moonsets. Additionally, if you add the Skyfire plug-in, you’ll see a predictor of sunrise and sunset color forecasts.
What you see and feel in the moment of capturing the photo is not always translated to the image. Sunrises can look flat or simply like a yellow spot on a dark background. Boring! Having a foreground focal point along with trying different exposures can quickly change sunrise images from “nice” to “Wow”. Add in some fluffy cloudscapes and another element of interest pulls in the viewer.
The sun has risen, many images have been captured and the beach chair beckons for a partner. Time to rest as the sunset is just hours away.
