I need some help with sunrise pictures

[MorningStarNicole]

This morning was my first attempt at photographing the sunrise. After some PP I got a few that I'm fairly happy with. Here's a couple:
#1

#2

However- before the editing, the foreground is noisy and grainy. What am I doing wrong? I tried at all different shutter speeds and apertures. If I correctly expose the foreground, the sunrise and sky is way overexposed. This is what those same two pics look like before any editing (linked to full size so you can see what I mean):


#1
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n5/poopsieturtle2/Photo Forum/sunrise40-1.jpg
1/60, f-10, ISO 1600


#2
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n5/poopsieturtle2/Photo Forum/sunrise71-1.jpg
1/200, f-7.1, ISO 200


I really like the completely dark foreground. How can I achieve this? Or do I need to leave some detail in the foreground? I don't mind doing some PP, but I'm just wondering what I can do to improve my photos straight out of the camera. Thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

The problem is that the foreground is much, much darker than the sky and much, much, much, much darker than the sun.

Your camera (any camera) is only capable of exposing for a certain range of brightness (The Dynamic Range). So if you expose for the foreground, the sky is too bright, but if you expose for the sky, the foreground is too dark.

Also, when it comes to noise, all digital image will likely have some degree of noise. It gets worse at higher ISO levels....so when it's a issue, you'll want to keep the ISO low. Also, the level of noise is fairly constant for the whole image...but in the darker areas, there is less 'signal' (image data)...so the signal to noise ratio is lower in the dark areas, thus you'll see more noise in the darker areas.

If you use software to increase the brightness of you image, or a part of it...that is when the noise can get really bad. So it's best to avoid that.

 

[MorningStarNicole]

The problem is that the foreground is much, much darker than the sky and much, much, much, much darker than the sun.

Your camera (any camera) is only capable of exposing for a certain range of brightness (The Dynamic Range). So if you expose for the foreground, the sky is too bright, but if you expose for the sky, the foreground is too dark.

Also, when it comes to noise, all digital image will likely have some degree of noise. It gets worse at higher ISO levels....so when it's a issue, you'll want to keep the ISO low. Also, the level of noise is fairly constant for the whole image...but in the darker areas, there is less 'signal' (image data)...so the signal to noise ratio is lower in the dark areas, thus you'll see more noise in the darker areas.

If you use software to increase the brightness of you image, or a part of it...that is when the noise can get really bad. So it's best to avoid that.

So basically you're saying there's really no way to correct this in camera- just PP as I've done?

 

[tirediron]

No, there is a very simply way to allow for this in-camera. It requires the use of a graduated netural-density filter (G-ND) which is a filter with a dark area at the top that gradally transitions to clear at the bottom, allowing for less light to come in through the dark area (sunrise) and more at the bottom (foreground).

 

[RichardsTPF]

GND is a good and easy way to make it.
or I would like to see the exposure +1 stop, so that the foreground is not so pitch black (some dark-gray shadow like feeling). Will that be better?

 

[DiskoJoe]

filters or the use of hdr would be good. I would recommend HDR. it doesnt have to be over the top either but would be a nice way to balance the photo.

 

[KmH]

Reading this tutorial High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography in Photoshop and all the other tutorials on that web site Digital Photography Tutorials, will help you better understand how to do digital photography.