Sunrise photography on the wonderful Greek Island of Rhodes


My Greek Sunrise!

I like this sunrise shot for a number of reasons. Firstly I have to as I got up at 4.30am on holiday! I wanted to capture the sunrise, and having spent a number of days thinking about it I decided to go for it. Thankfully in Rhodes the weather is quite predictable, i.e. hot and sunny, so I did not have to plan for the weather particularly. No the planning was more to do with getting up and having my kit ready in the morning.

I did a couple of scouting trips to find a location for the sunrise, unusually for more I actually planned this early morning shoot! I found the interesting concrete structure and calculated using the fantastic app “The Photographers Erasmus” where the sun would appear. I got this roughly correct.

The problem I had was finding ground level enough to place my tripod, or indeed my feet. The location was basically formed from random piles of rocks. I had to quickly abandon the tripod as the sun was about to pop out over the mountain. And even more rapidly change the settings to go handheld. I pushed the ISO to 640, giving me 1/2500th second at F16 when the sun appeared. I bracketed the shot, as I wanted to capture all the highlights and shadow details.

I wanted to capture the depth of the scene, but had trouble placing the foreground structure as it was at a strange angle!

Anyway after all that trauma the sun popped over the mountain and I got it just as planned. I like this shot as it gives the warm feeling of a sunrise. I like the colours – the blue in the sky and the orange of the sunrise. The clouds give the sky interest (blue skies can be so dull) and the shoreline structure frames the shot nicely (but exactly as I had hoped for).

Not a bad effort, and justified getting up early on holiday!

I merged two of the exposures in Lightroom and provided basic adjustments to the merged dng HDR image. It was quite a quick edit, and as ever I was delighted that no cropping was required!

Seriously Why I like it

Technical information

Camera – Canon EOS 6D

Lens – 17-40mm F4L

Focal length used – 17mm

Shutter – 1/2500th second

Aperture – F16

ISO – 640

Image taken in RAW format

About me

I am a professional photographer based in Bournemouth, Poole, Sandbanks, Dorset and Hampshire.

Please visit my website at www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk to find out more about the professional photography services I offer.

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Rick McEvoy

I am Rick McEvoy, an architectural and construction photographer living and working in the South of England. I create high quality architectural photography and construction photography imagery of the built environment for architects and commercial clients. I do not photograph weddings, families, small people or pets - anything that is alive, moves or might not do as I ask!! I am also the creator of the Photography Explained Podcast, available on all major podcast providers. I have a blog on my website where I write about my work and photography stuff. Rick McEvoy ABIPP, MCIOB

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