They don't get much better than this!

What a sunrise this morning! I am so glad I checked my weather app yesterday (I use an app called Clear Outside - iOS) to look at the forecast of cloud. I typically find that if we have forecast about 40-60% total cloud and it's made up of only high and some medium cloud, there's a great chance along the coast of a nice sunrise.

I do find that the chances are much more slim for a sunset even with equivalent forecasting models as often here in Port Macquarie, the clouds hang over the mountain range west of us that blocks the sun as it's setting, shutting down the sunset, unless when it's rising over the ocean.

Today I decided to head to a spot I'd taken an aerial photograph of before and had been fascinated with for a number of weeks. I said to myself - when the conditions are right, I'll head down there and see what I can find, well, today was that day.

Once you park in Bonny Hills on Honeysuckle Road, you'll see there's the start of a walking track (actually part of the Coastal Walk, the sign says). This track will take you to Shelly Beach and if you continue onwards, on a trail that runs around the Grants Head headland and around to the beach.

Head down the well maintained, clear trail until you reach the sign that says Shelly Beach and then turn left.

Then, unlike me in the dark, head down safely over some rocks and turn left along the beach and you've arrived - it's not far, I made it back to the car uphill in 5 minutes from being on the beach. Note the sign: no dogs, no camping, no vehicles and no fires and be aware because it's quite a narrow beach only consider heading down there on a running out mid-tide or low tide so you don't get caught out.

This morning, not having ever been to this beach on foot and in the dark (head lamp on), I tried my best to try and work out where a good composition was going to be - this is always the first challenge, what sort of photo am I going to take? Where wil the sun come up? Will the colours be more prominant in one direction than the other, and will there be clouds that will light up once the light starts emerging - all things you head into this with no clue about.

At just after 5:15am this morning, the first light emerged and with a long exposure (20 seconds - hence the star trails, at f2.8 (as wide as my lens would allow) and ISO 1600 to keep noise manageable, I captured this shot.

Not a bad start, the colours were going to be fantastic, if that cloud continued to build across the sky then I was thinking it might go off! Keep in mind at this time, it was dark, and there was only a glimmer of light. Being able to keep the camera's shutter wide open for 20 seconds means you get to really bring out the light in the shot and try to bring your exposures up to a place where you can do something with them (in Adobe Lightroom is where I work).

I decided I'd try and suss out a few different spots and see if I could come up with some other compositions, and it's tricky because you only have so much time as the light changes very fast (exactly 1 hour from the first light until the sun rose, which goes quickly, trust me, when you're trying to form up a nice photo).

Lots of things go through my mind - height of camera and tripod, elements in foreground, mid and background to give depth of field, look for leading lines from front to back, find pools of water for reflections, don't step in a pool of water or drop the camera, not to mention what will my camera settings be.

About halfway through at just after 6 (I check the 'DJI OK 2 Fly app' to see when I can launch my drone), it then gets even trickier! At this point I send the drone up, put the camera down and if the light is just right, send it off as quick as I can in different directions hoping to get some more unique compositions. The perspective of a drone offers up so many more opportunities for shots but you're not going to get as good a photo as a good mirrorless camera due to it's sensor size in comparison (what captures the light through it's lens).

So, I sent it out, beyond Grants Head, captured a look back towards Bonny Hills, some shots of the town and across and north towards Port Macquarie over Rainbow Beach and then brought it back down beside me (hovering) whilst I put the controller down and quickly went to work again with the Canon.

More compositions, this time the light is ambient enough I can see where I'm going without the head lamp so it's moving about and finding spots I wasn't able to see before, and trying for different compositions so that when I get home I have some options to go through.

Then, about this time, the sun starts to appear, so as it's coming over the horizon it's a quick shift typically of the shutter speed upwards and off the tripod as I can handhold photos at this point without blur due to image stabilisation in the lens and in the body.

A couple more photos and it's time to pack up, head home and get the family ready for the day, but what a way to start the day!

What do I shoot with?

Canon EOS R6 Mk III with a 15-35mm F2.8 lens, no filter at and before sunrise, on a Leofoto tripod

DJI Mavic 4 Pro

I process all of my photos in Adobe Lightroom and don't use presets. I go through my photos, work out which are keeprs (exposure is good, no blur) and then see what I can retrieve and if it turns out any good, I flag and then prepare to share it with you!

Thanks for reading this through. Feel free to leave me a comment here, or back on my Facebook page if there's a part of this you'd like me to step you through some more, or if you'd like to come along one time, or even get some capture or editing lessons from me if you like my work.

Take care,

Matt