Almost Sunrise

[exif id="19264"]

It's our second day here in the Outer Banks and I am already starting to losing track of which day of the week it is. It feels like Sunday -- again. Today, as we yesterday is cloudy. I was exhausted so didn't get up until around 6:30 AM. I looked out the west-facing entrance and saw the orange glow of the sunrise from the beach. I excitedly rushed to put on some shorts before running out the door with my camera. But the journey to the beach took to long. The sand between the land and the beach was too soft and got bogged down. I arrive at the beach too late to capture the glory of this mornings' sunrise.

I found a dune and set up the camera to capture the last bit of orange in the sky. While setting up the camera I notice small piercing bits of pain all over my legs. It took me a while to realise that some small black flies -- so tiny it was to even see them in the dim morning light -- had covered my legs and my pants. Ouch!

This is a three image HDR shot as a long exposure on my Nikon D5100 with a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX-II and Hoya 77mm NDx400 HMC neutral density filter at ISO 100 f/11. The images were combined in Nik's HDR Efx Pro. I normally used Photomatix Pro. That software is installed on my iMac but I am editing with my MacBook Air and I forgot to install Photomatix Pro before the trip.

I used a filter adapter to use the 52mm Hoya on the 77mm score size of the lens. I cropped the image to reduce some shadows at the edge. The following was applied to the HDR image in Adobe Lightroom.

  • Exposure: 0.95
  • Contrast: +25
  • Whites: +44
  • Blacks: -9
  • Clarity: +17

I regretted leaving the DSLR at home

I noticed the colour in the sky when I walked out the door. I hesitated momentarily, making the quick decision to continue without my camera. I ran late and didn't want to get stuck behind the school bus. I regretted my decision.

I pulled into the parking area near the small boathouse. I shot this one on my iPhone 6 using vividHDR. The one below was shot using the native iPhone 6 camera app. I also did some minor editing in Adobe Lightroom Mobile.

17 December 2014 · Apple iPhone 6 · iPhone 6 back camera 4.15mm f/2.2

I had stopped carrying my DSLR kit with me because, in winter, I expect the weather to be bad. I also know that I will be well on my way to work when the sun starts to rise. I know I will be driving home in the dark. I know that it is unsafe to walk around with an "expensive" camera in the area where I work.

Early morning fog over Princeton Battlefield Park

While driving to work this week, I pulled over to capture this image using the vividHDR app on my iPhone 6. I used a gradient filter in Adobe Lightroom to saturate the colours in the sky, and given that it was early morning, the iPhone 6 most likely shot this at ISO 800 or higher. I used Nik's Define for some noise reduction.