Shorncliffe Sunrise

WHAT

This shot was taken on my first ever sunrise shooting session. The location was on the jetty at Shorncliffe, about 30 mins north of Brisbane City.

WHY

I know the features and vantage points of this location fairly well and it's a favourite area of mine for bike riding, eating fish & chips, and more recently- photography. Therefore, I didn't have to go and scout the location prior to the sunrise session- I knew exactly where I wanted to take my sunrise shots.

I'm not sure what the old pylons in the photo were originally used for, but I thought they provided a nice silhouette and focal point for my shot.

HOW

At the time, I had been learning about the different white balance settings on my camera and took this photo using the 'flourescent' white balance option, purely because I prefer the blue/purple look this setting gives to a sunrise/sunset scene as opposed to the green/yellow tones produced by other white balance settings.

I now tend to shoot in 'Auto' white balance mode because I can always change the white balance during post-production to achieve a desired look.

The timing of this photo was important in achieving the colours and overall 'feel' - it was taken before the sun had actually risen above the horizon.

Therefore, there was little to no light available which meant I had to use a tripod to prevent a blurry photo caused by camera shake. I also had to use a shutter speed of (from memory) about 6 to 8 seconds in order to let enough light in.