15 tips for better sunrise photography: Gear, weather, settings and much more

posted Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 7:30 AM EDT

Last month, we shared photographer Anton Gorlin's excellent guide for seascape photography. Gorlin has a new guide focused on sunrise photography.

Among his 15 tips for better sunrise images, he opens by discussing the difference between sunrise and sunset. Besides the obvious difference in the direction of light, sunrise has some distinct advantages. There are often less people around at sunrise. After all, not many people are willing to get up very early. On that note, Gorlin's first tip is to arrive early. You want to start shooting at least an hour before sunrise. You can get some really nice colors in the sky before the sun breaks the horizon. If you're arriving early, you'll want to follow his second tip too, bringing extra light. A headlamp or flashlight is a must.

What about weather? Cloud cover is critical for getting the best colors in the sky. Gorlin finds that less than 30% cloud coverage typically results in rather bland sunrise images and over 70% is often too much. Location of clouds matters too, but that's much harder to predict and check ahead of time. To see the rest of Gorlin's tips, including information about filters, bracketing exposures, composition ideas and much more, head over to his new sunrise photography guide.