Let's talk about sunrise shot's. What's the difference between sunrise shots and sunset shots? Sunsets allow plenty of time to set up your shot at a reasonable hour of the day. If you'd rather get out of bed around 5 A.M. to go for your shot, I wish you happy trails. I've only gone out once for a sunrise shoot and it was a disaster. Fortunately, I took a compass reading of the suns position during a previous sunrise allowing me to position myself for the rising sun. The only reason to go out for a sunrise shot is because you really, really want a certain subject with the sun in the background.

NOTE: This entire roll of film was destroyed by a large retail photo development company. They were scratched, blotched, double exposed and basically useless as you can see. Generally, all photo development companies have a high satisfaction rate. I wouldn't take a roll of wedding photos to them though and absolutely positively do not send your negatives for enlargements. Every negative that I have sent off for enlargements has been returned with some sort of damage. Take your negatives to a local reputable enlarger that performs the work at their location. I did get a couple rolls of free film as a settlement, but what good does that do for this highly involved photo shoot. You've been warned.

Copyright Wade Enloe 1999

Copyright Wade Enloe 1999

While waiting for the sun to rise I decided to set up the camera and warm up with these unexpected shots. I shot them in both landscape and portrait just to examine the results later. Yes, these are T2 (tobacco) graduated filter shots. I kind of went crazy when I bought that filter. It's not a slam-dunk using that filter all the time. Generally, you have to shoot on auto with this filter. Longer exposures lighten up the photo way too much making the graduation obvious and very fake looking.

Copyright Wade Enloe 1999

The problem with these shots is they were shot during the heat of the summer when there are absolutely no clouds in the sky. We could have shot these without a filter during a partly cloudy sunrise. Still, notice the total range of color spectrum from cool blue to burning red. You're not going to get that anywhere else but on the water during a sunset. I was very worried about the waves with the shutter staying open ½ to 1 full second. No problem though. They came out better than I expected. If you have weeds or sticks waving in the breeze, you can bet on having blurring problems.

Copyright Wade Enloe 1999

And finally, I broke out the star filter for grins. Star filters are nothing more than a clear lens scratched crosswise. The resulting pictures are blurry. I still haven't found a good use for that filter yet.

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