Just a really nice sunrise today, but an interesting evolution of the picture during editing.
An early start is often rewarded with a view of the sun rising, today was no exception. It’s always magical, and although millions of people see it the world over, every day, it somehow always has that special feeling – I think because there are less people around, it feels that much more intimate, like it’s a personal moment between you and the sun.
So, the image below was the original frame, and I liked the view because of the silhouette, the bright orange sun, the framing of the trees, that interesting network mast, the cool cloud formation beautifully lit by the light, and that branch stretching out towards the sun. Lots going on, but at the same time a very tranquil scene.
Once I’d picked my picture, I set about fine tuning it, and this was my initial result:
I didn’t need to do a lot, I just adjusted the shadows to make them more dense, took the lens glare out (I know some people like that, but the dot of colour just right of centre in the raw shot is something that personally, drives me insane!) and pulled some more of the colour through in the sky. That was it.
However, whilst zoomed into the frame, I noticed the line of street lights and power cables, really looked amazing shining in the sun light. It looked to me like a far away country, I couldn’t say where, but there you go. So I tried a crop ultra close in, something I’m normally wary of in low light, because the detail can be lost. I further shored up the shadows and edited out the tree branches all together, including the one at the top.
The result, was this, a very clean but thought provoking shot, I feel. Even thought the sun is technically poorly placed, the subtle leading lines help to draw your eye across the frame, and the colours really hold your attention. it’s simplicity I think, is its real beauty.
Learnings – don’t be afraid to focus on minimal subject matter, loads of details are not necessary to make a really eye catching image.
Onegav 