Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

scottbuckel · 11:16 AM

I went out to Texas City Dike on Saturday morning (Texas City Dike Scenics) and I got the idea in my head that I could photograph the sun rising behind the Bolivar Lighthouse. I spent a bit of time with the application, "The Photographer's Ephemeris" and realized that this week would be a good time to capture this image. The spots you see are actually gulls flying by and I have not decided whether or not I want to clone them out.

Thanks for looking and commenting,

Scott

andyz · 09-14-2011, 11:34 AM

I have the same program on my iPhone and used it in Big Bend. I used it to track the sun's path, but without this much success. Great image.

Did the program help you determine where to position yourself and when, for this shot?

Fireball · 09-14-2011, 02:41 PM

I think that's really cool!

kenw · 09-14-2011, 02:50 PM

this works well.....the birds? I say clone them out, this is more of an art shot than a documentary.

That's a shot worth getting up early to see.

scottbuckel · 09-14-2011, 04:29 PM

Thanks for the comments. I'll clone out the birds once I decide to print this image.

I used The Photographer's Ephemeris for desk top - it is free and more powerful than th iPhone/iPad version. Here's how I used the program to figure that this shot was possible. First start with your knowns, I wanted to at the end of the Texas City Dike so I put the pin at the end of the dike. This is one of the my saved locations. The software automatically draws a line that points to where the sun will rise (and set). As shown here:

This program uses Google Maps so you magnify and scroll around in the program to identify features from the satellite view. As you can see from this photo, the sunrise line falls right next to the lighthouse:

So I knew it was possible. I got to the spot about 25 minutes prior to the sunrise, watched the sky and realized I needed to move about 6 feet further to the right from where it initially set up. The haze in the sky this morning really helped out.

Scott

andyz · 09-14-2011, 04:40 PM

Thanks for the info, and for sharing your image.

MichaelW · 09-14-2011, 08:01 PM

The birds that show well to be gulls I would leave. The 2 on the left side don't really look like birds.I would take them out. I like the shot. The colors in the sun really look good.