Sunrise Tech

Yet another clipper in what has been a seemingly endless string of systems dropping in from the northwest made its appearance across the region Saturday. Knowing that snow was forecast for late morning into midday, I had a hunch that lead edge cloud in advance of the parent low would be in place for a daybreak photo opportunity. Initially at civil twilight when I could visually identify the situation, I thought it might bust given the lackluster fade of light typical if the cloud shield is too far ahead. Once the suns rays crept over the horizon at just the right angle however, the base lit up like someone flipped a switch. Rather than be another generic post showcasing the moment without much commentary, I have decided to include some personal notes so that you might get more from your own sunrise/sunset experiences.

"Red sky at morning, Sailors take warning" is not an old wives tale but a true assessment for a pending weather situation. Located in Central Illinois, the cloud I am interested in is already streaming into Indiana. The base illuminates as it does because from the far eastern deck edge trailing back to the west, cloud altitude lowers with the phasing of a departing high pressure to the east into an approaching low pressure to the west. As a result, the sun beams across an ever so slightly angled plane creating the change of color value from bright yellow at horizon to magenta the further you get from the source. Rayleigh scattering is the process in which water molecules and airborne particles separate white light into the range of the visible spectrum to where only the longer wavelengths of red are available. When up all night, I keep tabs on infrared satellite activity as you can often predict if there will be anything worth paying attention to while it is still dark.

c/o COD Meteorology

For all of the images, I shot ISO 200, F8.0, A/v Mode and let the shutter be determined on its own. White balance is auto as I simply correct if necessary during editing.

Through a Tamron 10-22 wide angle lens cropped to Facebook cover photo aspect ratio of 851:315. I like this style of cropping as it renders a somewhat generic panorama.


Cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio, when it starts to pop I will stop down -0.3 to help keep the brightest areas in check.


Virtually the same as the first example but notice the dramatic changes. Continuity with so many things happening between the lights and darks is difficult to maintain thus why I allow the in-camera metering to do the work for me. Seems lazy but the window from initial illumination to sun appearance is roughly 15 minutes.


16:9 aspect ratio with attempted emphasis on leading lines.


16:9 aspect ratio through a Tamron 28-80 with off center attempted emphasis on balancing dark subject at left with highlight at right.


16:9 aspect ratio with attempted emphasis like previous but opposite.


3:2 aspect through Canon 75-300 with attempted emphasis on left horizon dip as weight balance. It can be a challenge to find decent, non-intrusive subjects in the heart of agribusiness land where there is little more than power poles or cell towers. If nothing is available, I look for 'anti-subjects' such as this.


3:2 aspect through Canon 75-300, off center and vertical to demonstrate that if an event doesn't pop across the entire sky, you can often get a dramatic scene by zooming into the horizon. I usually like to align a tree or other subject at the point of light as this also helps minimize possible lens flaring. Once the sun is up, it's usually over for me as the glaring light creates lens flaring that becomes difficult to control. The exception would be if there is haze to keep the source in check. Likewise, the light angle is such that the cloud base loses the 'zing'.


Radar from one minute after sunrise and here comes the snow along with the dismal grey morning that most will be awaking to but not for me :)

c/o RadarScope