Camping, Photography, and Sunset Versus Sunrise

When is the last time that you went on a camping adventure? If it involved photography and both a sunset in the evening and a sunrise in the early morning, did you prefer one more than the other?

In this video, host Nigel Danson takes us on a simple (and windy looking) camping trip while offering some thoughts on both the evening sunset and an early morning sunrise. Complete with some tips on composition and using the decreasing light (at sunset) and the increasing light (at sunrise) effectively, this video is a nice look at finding beauty in a simple scene. One thing that I really enjoy about Danson's videos are the stories and scenes he visits, accompanied by his videos' music choices. The video becomes more than just a vlog and feels like it has some character and some story behind it, coupled with some emotional impact just from the use of his drone, the scenery, and the accompanying music.

It has been quite a while since I've been camping, though hopefully, I'll be able to make that happen in the not-too-distant future. How about you folks? When's the last time that you were able to get outdoors with your tent? Did your adventure involve some sunset or sunrise photography? Do you enjoy one more than the other? I know that generally, I enjoy the warm tones and the orange and gold that we often find at sunset, though I don't have a bad thing to say about the cool blues and pinks that can be found in the morning.

Evan Kane is a portrait photographer based near Seattle. He specializes in colorful location portraits with a bit of a fairy tale flair. Always looking to create something with emotion behind it, he fell backwards into photography in mid 2015 and has been pursuing this dream ever since. One if his mottos: "There is always more to learn."

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17 Comments

Yesterday. On top of a mountain.

A few days ago I was out in Bears Ears for 3 days and 2 nights. I get out as much as possible.
danlubbers.com

If you don't mind me asking what were your settings for getting balanced exposure between the tent and sky?

Whatever the camera settings, balancing the exposure here is more about how to set up the light inside the tent (ie where to point it during exposure). Usually a bit of trial and error is required. It's a beaut shot, isn't it!

Sorry for the late response, I haven't been online much lately. I borrowed a friends DSLR as I wasn't traveling with my gear. I believe the settings were iso 3200, 8sec shutter, 4 point something fstop. I used a Petzl Headlamp inside the tent and the first shot was way to overexposed, so I turned the headlamp on the lowest setting and it worked well. Little bit of trial and error, no real science to it. Then tent is blurry due to the high winds that night with the shutter being open for 8 sec and using a headlamp instead of remotely popping a strobe. You work with what ya got, ya know... Hope that helps!
WWW.DANLUBBERS.COM

Thanks for the info!

I like shooting when the weather conditions are best for a great light show. Could be sunrise or sunset, you never know for sure when that will be!

"Wild camping with my mirrorless camera". Mirrorless camera users seem to be like vegans - they never seem leave us guessing as to that choice they made!

I see potential here.

How do you know if a photographer shoots mirrorless?

They'll tell you.

Ha ha, exactly!

You couldn´t have said it better. They are exactly like that!

Actually usually shoot with my SLR - decided to go vegan rather than red meat on this trip 😉

I must fess up - I actually dabble with the vegan camera myself too, sometimes! 😓

I'm afraid I'm too old to consider camping holidays any longer - the last one I went on was in 1956, some 62 years ago, with a school friend of mine.

I was most interested in your comments on sunrises. Personally, I'm a late riser (although I've seen plenty of sunrises through a bit of a self-induced fog, returning home after night-clubbing all night, when I was younger). Any number of absolutely brilliant sunsets. But only a few "interesting" sunrises. Sunrises have mostly been rather insipid and uninteresting - unlike yours.

Until recently. When I was returning home, walking the dog early one morning. And suddenly, the whole eastern sky lit up with a brilliant deep scarlet. Thankfully, I rarely step out of the house without a camera, and so I immediately took about 5 shots of it, as it developed and changed. As a landscape photography, you'd no doubt be quite horrified by the fact it was all hand held - I rarely take a tripod while I'm walking the dog! And I have to admit that, even SOOC, they were stunning shots.

I love both, but much prefer sunrise. I find that I have better luck at spotting cloud inversions and other picture-perfect weather circumstances that are rarely found during sunset. Also.... what better way to start the day?

Completely agree - sunrises are so great as they start the day. Also - the quality of light is often better and weather conditions more varied

Couple weeks ago camped at the darkest place in FL (and potentially the SE). It was cloudy but cleared up for 3 hours and got a spectacular nearly Bortle 1 view of the summer milky way. The Rho Ophiucus to Lagoon Nebula photo in my portfolio was from that night.

As a mostly deep sky astrophotographer Im interested in the time between Sunset and Sunrise- an hour after and an hour before to be precise : )

You can see my astrograph refractor telescope on the right.