The sunrise on this morning illuminated wispy clouds on the horizon. However, on this day I had a morning appointment and could not stay to see the sun rise above the horizon. So I took this opportunity to experiment with different exposure settings.

The photographs are in sequential order and grouped into three different exposure settings.

Original Photo

Photographs/video taken on 23 March 2019.

Sunrise Videos

For this photo shoot I focused on the distant horizon then turned off the auto-focus and the image stabilization on my lens.

To give you a bit of the behind the scenes setup for a sunrise photo shoot, I took three different approaches to the breaking dawn. Each approach started with a different exposure level setting and slowly adjusted exposure level to simulate a brightening dawn.

Cannon 7D Screen Showing Shutter Speed, Aperture, and Exposure Level

For a long sunrise photo shoot I typically adjust the shutter speed and aperture to get an exposure level close to -1 to get the best realistic color. This allows for some fantastic shots without the need to adjust colors in post-processing.

Adjusting the Shutter Speed and Aperture to get an Exposure Level of -1

For each of the exposure groups belows you can see how the different colors can be enhanced through the different exposure settings.

Time Lapse Video

Exposure Group 1

The photographs in the video cover an 11 minute time-frame. This video stitches together 8 photos starting 31 minutes before the official sunrise.

The following animated GIF is 5x the speed of the full video.

Original Video

Exposure Group 2

The photographs in the video cover an 2 minute time-frame. This video stitches together 7 photos starting 20 minutes before the official sunrise.

The following animated GIF is 5x the speed of the full video.

Original Video

Exposure Group 3

The photographs in the video cover an 7 minute time-frame. This video stitches together 12 photos starting 17 minutes before the official sunrise.

The following animated GIF is 8x the speed of the full video.

Original Video

Sunrise Photographs in Sequence

Dawn: The period of the day when light begins to appear in the sky from the sun.
Sunrise: The time when you first see the sun in the morning.

To give you an idea of the when the photographs were taken I am adding a T-time. T-0 is sunrise, T-10 is 10 minutes before sunrise, and T+5 is 5 minutes after sunrise.

This is a representative sample of the photographs in the videos. The photographs have not been enhanced, you are seeing what I observed on this morning.

Exposure Group 1

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 30 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-31

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 30 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-29

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 30 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-28

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 15 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-24

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 10 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-22

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 10 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-21

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 13 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-21

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 6 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-20

Exposure Group 2

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 2.5 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-20

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 3.2 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-20

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 4 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-19

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 5 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-19

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 4 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-19

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 3.2 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-19

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 3.2 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-18

Exposure Group 3

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 2 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-17

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1.6 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-16

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1.3 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-16

)
Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 0.8 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-14

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-14

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1.3 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-13

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1.3 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-13

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1.6 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-13

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 2 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-12

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/29; 1.6 sec.; ISO-100; 44mm; Time T-11

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/22; 0.8 sec.; ISO-100; 28mm; Time T-10

Original Photo: Canon EOS 7D; f/22; 0.6 sec.; ISO-100; 28mm; Time T-10

Credits

When I think about how wonderful it is to capture these moments, I often realize how little I had to do with making these wonderful moments. For I am just the guy behind the camera.

Director and Producer
God Almighty

Camera Operator
@etcmike
a.k.a. "Steem On" on YouTube

Equipment

Item	Name
Camera	Canon EOS 7D
Lens	Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom
Filters	Tiffen UV Protection Filter, Tiffen Circular Polarizer Glass Filter
Tripod	Manfrotto MT190XPRO3 3 Section Aluminum Tripod Legs with Q90 Column (Black)

Use of Photographs/Videos

I used the SteemIt icon in my photo credit to indicate these photographs were originally posted on SteemIt.
The photographs and videos in this post are free to be used by anyone as long as the photo credit is left on the photograph.

Photo/Video Editing

Video editing performed with Adobe Primiere Elements 2018. Affiliate link to Amazon.com provided for your convenience.

Purchase Raw Photos for STEEM

You can purchase the raw photo of any of the bird photos in this blog post with STEEM. Simply state which photo you want in a comment for details.

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