Sunrise Downtown

Playboy_Mommy · May 25, 2014

Couldn't sleep Friday night, so I decided to head downtown around 5:30 am to catch the sunrise. I'm a beginner, and I wanted to see what effects the early morning light had on my subjects. I did a shoot last week in the same area, but midday, and wanted to compare the light quality to what I captured the other day. This was more of an experiment with light than it was an exercise in composition. I shot in Manual mode because I'm still trying to work out the whole exposure triangle - it's definitely not second nature for me like it is to the seasoned photographers here, so I've got a lot of either really dark or really light photos on my memory card as I was figuring out what would happen when I, say, opened up the aperture and increased the shutter speed or vice versa. My philosophy is that the best way to learn is by doing!

Thanks for looking. Constructive criticism welcome, and please keep in mind that I'm really really new - currently in week 3 of my Basic Photography class.

colnago1331 · May 25, 2014

Nice! I really like the first and last photos. The other two are kinda "meh" for me. But you're definitely showing improvement.

limr · May 25, 2014

I think if it's a study of light, then the first two pictures are possibly more instructive than the last two. The first one has deep shadows and bright light at the end of the alley, which places you in the position of exposing for shadows or for light. The question is, what is more important? Is there something more interesting in the light? Then you expose for that and allow detail to be lost in the shadows, let them be a sort of "silhouette" to frame the subject. Or perhaps the shadows hold what's interesting and you have to decide if it's important enough to blow out highlights in order to preserve detail in the shadows.

The first shot is not particularly interesting in terms of the subject, but as I said, it was a good picture to take to study the light contrasts. In this case, you did a good job of balancing shadows and bright spots. That's good if that is what you are after. Did you bracket (take exposures above and below the middle exposure)? Those other exposures are just as instructive as the one you eventually settled. Those will help you see the different effect of exposing for either light or shadows. Sometimes 'balanced' isn't always the most interesting use of light.

The second one isn't as dramatic a difference, but there's a nice gradient of light that was captured, and you get more of an idea of the quality of the light as well.

In the third one, you can see that the morning light isn't nearly as harsh even when it's falling directly on a subject, though you only get a little hint of the kind of shadows it can throw because there's only that small shadow in the middle. And in the fourth one, it looks like the light is very diffused, like it had clouded over, so the picture feels a bit dull.

I think you're on the right track when you go out to take pictures with very specific things in mind. Keep paying close attention to the light - and don't bin the ones you think are too dark or too light, at least not as first. Especially the ones that are in mixed light as in the first and second shots you posted here. They might not be good pictures but they'll help you understand different effects when you compare them to exposures that are more successful. And you're also right when you say the best way to learn is by doing!

IzzieK · May 25, 2014

Yes, I agree with everything that limr said -- it is certainly a study of light. While I was scrolling and looking at the shots she took, I find it interesting what she really found in her morning walk and took a shot of them...until I saw the last one converted to B/W. In my opinion that is a nice WoW! that is a shot! shot. It would have been nice to see a human element added to it but this is what her camera saw and I really like the treatment. Good on you.

katastrophekaty · May 25, 2014

The second picture is MUCH better (imo) than the similar one you shot in your last post. I love the last picture the best, but I think it would have been a little better if you'd been standing in the middle on the street. If I hadn't bee looking at the lines in the road, I never would have noticed, but still a great shot. Good job!

Playboy_Mommy · May 25, 2014

Thank you all for the feedback, you've given me lots to think about. I did "bracket" my pictures, and that's why I have a whole bunch of either really blown out or really dark photos on the memory card. Imported all of them to Lightroom and went through them, taking notice of what settings I had used and the Histogram. So it's definitely starting to click in my brain and I'm getting quicker at knowing oh, ok, this needs to be stepped down an f stop and it will be a better exposure. Baby steps. But I've got close to 2000 photos on my memory card now, from about a month's worth of shooting. I keep them in folders sorted by date on my laptop so I can actually go back and SEE my improvements.

I'm also learning to be more selective in what I edit and keep. If I go out and shoot for 2 hours, I know that I don't HAVE to come back with a bunch of photos, and I don't need to try to find something redeemable in every single one. If I have 100 shots and only 1 is a keeper, it's ok, it was worth my time to get that one shot. And I'm learning that things I THINK will look great don't always live up to my expectations, but other shots that I didn't think would turn out to be anything are my favorites.

I'm also learning to look EVERYWHERE and see as much as possible. I was actually done for the day and in my car, packed up, ready to drive home, when I looked across the street and saw the newspaper machines. When I had gotten there, it was still kinda dark out and the sun hadn't come up over the horizon, so there was nothing noteworthy going on there. But 2 hours later when the sun was up over the buildings and striking the machines, casting those strong shadows and illuminating the colors, it was a much different scene.

I bought a bunch of books on Amazon - someone had recommended John Hedgecoe - and I've been just devouring those. I actually fell asleep reading Hedgecoe's "Photography Basics" last night! Lol!

Sent from my iPhone

Playboy_Mommy · May 25, 2014

katastrophekaty said:
The second picture is MUCH better (imo) than the similar one you shot in your last post. I love the last picture the best, but I think it would have been a little better if you'd been standing in the middle on the street. If I hadn't bee looking at the lines in the road, I never would have noticed, but still a great shot. Good job!

Good point. I honestly hadn't noticed the lines at all, I was focused on the negative space between the buildings. I thought it would be more dramatic to try to center that, but I never even thought to look down and take note of what was going on with the lines. More to think about next time, thank you!

Sent from my iPhone