A Guest Post by Simon Davidson.
As all photographers know, there are two times of day when the light is most ideal for capturing breathtaking images, sunrise and sunset. The reason being is because at these times the angle between the sun and the earth’s surface is small which allows for the sunlight to flow over the landscape in a way that intensifies the colours of nature and also creates spectacular shadows. All in all, it is a photographers dream land!
Below are a couple of pointers that will help you effectively plan for your upcoming sunrise shoot so that you don’t miss that perfect shot. (NB: these steps should all be done the day before you plan on shooting the sunrise)
But the most important tip of all is to WAKE UP when your alarm goes off!
This is a very important point and is one that many people often overlook. Knowing the location that you will be shooting in is just as important as bringing your camera on a shoot. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation (I admit, I have fallen victim to this myself) where you are frantically running around trying to find the best location to start shooting.
All you need to do is just spend about 20 minutes to half an hour a day or two before you plan on shooting the sunrise, have a look around the location so that you can get a good idea of the prime spots to photograph which will save you the pain of missing that ideal photo.
You may be a professional photographer, or someone working their way up to that level, or maybe even just a hobbyist photographer, but no matter what level you’re at or what kind of photography you are doing I truly believe that the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself because at the end of the day that is most likely one of the reasons you took up photography in the first place.
So make sure to plan your shoot in advance, know the location you’ll be shooting and ENJOY IT!
Photographing at sunrise requires a little bit of planning and the ability to wake up to your alarm clock at 5:00am… In this video you will get an inside look at a sunrise shoot which takes place on the Knysna Lagoon in Southern Africa.
See more of Simon Davidson’s Photography at www.simondavo.com.
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
Tips on Early Morning Photography
UPDATE: This competition is closed and the winner has been notified via email (the winner was Rachel Candy)! Thanks to everyone for entering!
This year has been a wonderful one here at Digital Photography School. We’ve literally been reaching photographers around the globe. We’re so grateful to all of you faithful readers and members of the Digital Photography School Forum!
As a way to tell you just how much we love you, we’ve coupled with photographer extraordinaire Mike Colón to give a MEGA gift to one lucky DPS reader.
Just comment for your chance to win (see our simple rules below) an educational DVD set including the following popular resources from Colón (retail value of $1,000 usd)!
1. The Colón Experience: 4-day Intensive
(7 hour educational DVD set including information on lighting techniques, digital workflow and more!)
2. Reaching the High End Bride
3. On Location With Mike Colón
(Shadow Mike on location at a real wedding!)
About the instructor: Mike Colón is a highly successful, high demand celebrity wedding photographer who specializes in celebrity portraiture and high profile weddings (celebrities who have commissioned him for their weddings are Usher, Timbaland and Kenny Wayne Shepard to name a few). Mike was named a “Nikon Legend Behind The Lens” and he is a spokesperson (and sits on advisory panels) for several of the photo industries top corporations including Apple Inc., Pictage Inc., Epson America Inc., Lexar Media Inc. Perhaps more impressive is the fact he still finds time for so much philanthropic work with NGO’s such as Thirst Relief International and NILMDTS. Mike Colón has become nothing short of a household name in the photography world, known not only for his business acumen but perhaps more importantly for his success in obtaining national recognition as a celebrated artist in such a highly competitive industry.
To Enter for a chance to win this prize – simply leave a comment in the comments below that does these two things:
1. Contains the word DVD (this will help us moderate comments and make sure we don’t miss any).
2. Tells us in 30 words or less why you want to win (while it’s a random draw it’ll be fun to see your reasons).
The prize will be a random draw from the comments left – we’ll randomly choose the winner in a week on 4 January at midday (Melbourne time).
Please note:
UPDATE: This competition is closed and the winner (the winner was Rachel Candy) has been notified via email! Thanks to everyone for entering!
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
WIN an Educational DVD Set from DPS and Celebrity Photographer Mike Colón!
With the festive season (whatever that may be to you) upon us – this weeks assignment was “Holiday Memories” So it was only fair that we had Santa come in and judge it for us, right? Well, we couldn’t get hold of him, so our awesome moderators have chosen for you and have come up with this weeks top three entries!
We’ve given First place to BryanC with his set-up shot of “Milk & Cookies” that you can see to your left. Well done BryanC! It was a tough choice with so many entries! Second place goes to KidAtHeart with (what we called) “Don’t Open ’till Christmas” I think my vote tipped this one into second spot – well, my little 5 week old boy’s vote did (Unwrap your gift carefully!) So, KidAtHeart, Congratulations on your photo. and Third (There are no losers on dPS, only winners!) goes to PhotoBoothGuy with his “Snow Ball Fight!” – A great concept, thanks and well done to all of you! 
As we close out the year, for our last assignment, I want you to go through all of your shots you took this year and choose your very best. Give a brief explanation of why you feel it is your best of the year. You need to have taken it during 2009. Please remember to include your EXIF info and “My Best Shot of 2009“ if you want to be in the mini-contest. Lowepro Toploader Pro 70 AW.
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (9-23 Dec ‘09)