[Fuji X-E3, 10-24mm, ISO 125, ƒ/11, 8 sec] 6:37 am

My mornings sometimes start early for photo shoots. Today I woke up at 5:00 am for a photo shoot at sunrise. Sunrise was scheduled to happen at 6:50 am.

I arrived at about 5:40 am at the location and set up two Alienbees B1600 strobes with 50º reflectors.

You can see one of the two lights on the left and the other by the flag pole. I shot with the Nikon D5 as well as my Fuji X-E3.

I put the cameras on Manual Mode. I was shooting up to 30-second exposures with an aperture of ƒ/10 to ƒ/22. ISO was 100 on D5 and 125 on the Fuji X-E3.

This photo was taken with just available light.  It was shot at 6:34 am. The sun is slowly rising but isn’t up yet. It has 16 more minutes until Sunrise. The sky behind the building looks darker, but the longer shutter speeds make it a dark blue sky.

I find that approximately 20 minutes before sunrise and 20 minutes after sunset, you get the best ratio of the lights inside the buildings and signage versus the nighttime sky is the best. Looking at the photo above, shot at 6:12 am, 38 minutes before sunrise, the sky is too dark for me.

At 6:30 am, it sounds like 20 minutes before sunrise, and the sky perfectly matches the lights in and on the restaurant.

At 6:20 am, I can make the sky look great at a 30-second shutter speed, but the lights start to lose details. Ten minutes later, I get the sky and the lights just perfect.

Here are the tips for Sunrise or Sunset if you want to do this yourself.

TIPS

• Before the shoot, arrange to have lights turned on for the photoshoot.
• Arrive 1 hour before Sunrise or Sunset
• Use Tripod & Cable Release
• If using flash, set it to match your Aperture or -1 stop.
• Start taking photos at least 35 minutes before Sunrise and 5 minutes before Sunset.
• Take photos for about 5 minutes after Sunrise and 30 minutes after Sunset.