F A L L 2 0 1 5 | W E S T W O R L D A L B E R T A 31
HOW TO SHOOT
the perfect sunrise or sunset
BY TIM JOHNSON
Capturing that gorgeous orange glow at dawn
and dusk can be a tricky thing, so we asked
Bob Bittner, a professional landscape photog-
rapher and a workshop instructor for McBain
Camera, for his top four tips for SLR users.
1
Switch your settings from auto to manual,
and make sure to keep things within the
right range. Your aperture, also known as
f-stop, controls the amount of light entering
through the lens. Adjust your depth of field
between f/10 and f/14 and keep your ISO low
– between 125 and 400 – to ensure your pic-
ture quality remains high.
2
Scout your location. With a sunrise, the
landscape will remain dark until just before
the dawn, so it's best to have a look and get
familiar with it the day before, in the daytime.
3
Use an ND grad filter. "It's like putting sun-
glasses on your camera," says Bittner. A
graduated neutral density filter helps even out
the tones in a photo, creating a photographic
landscape that's closer to how it appears to the
human eye.
4
Tripod versus freestyle? Bittner prefers the
freedom of the latter, which allows you to
move around and try different angles. Keep
your hand as steady as possible to avoid blur-
ring. He also recommends using the "continu-
ous burst" function on your camera so that at
least one of the shots will come out nicely. W
CRUISING
Save up to 20% on pass-
port photos, workshops,
camera bags and tripods
at McBain Camera.
AMARewards.ca/
McBain
