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Peculiar Golden Sunrise

Peculiar Golden Sunrise

And now for something completely different.

This frame did not turn out anything like what we expected.  We have shot with the sun in the frame using HDR before, but this time, the extreme golden glow of the result surprised us.  We had expected more of a “normal sunrise” with tones grading from light to dark.  However,  the 7 exposures that makes up the HDR, all contain just 3 “tones”; Dark, golden sunrise and blown out (sun) in different parts of the frame (see below).  The HDR processing picks out the golden sunrise colour from each of the exposure and the result is what you see above.

Shot with the 105mm VR Micro Nikkor (a very sharp lens with high contrast) in RAW format.  7 exposures combined in Photomatix.

We are not sure if we like the result, but thought we would share our surprise and musings.

What do you think?

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For comparison, one exposure:

EXIF information
model NIKON D700
exposureTime 33/100000 s
fnumber f/11.0
isoEquiv 500
focalLength 105
24. March 2009, 00:05 hide details Posted in: Experimental, HDR The permalink address (URI) of this photo is: http://framedandshot.com/2009/03/24/peculiar-golden-sunrise/

Comments (48)

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  1. My opinion, stunning, awesome … love the golden colors in this rural capture. (you say 7 exposures ?)

    krims@nline.be — March 24th, 2009 at 01:10

  2. Wow it’s magical. I love it.

    Frida — March 24th, 2009 at 02:36

  3. Your best!

    Which main? What cross? — March 24th, 2009 at 04:14

  4. Amazing clear shot with great composition! Bravo!

    Robert Kruh — March 24th, 2009 at 04:43

  5. Absolutely stunning colors and details. This is a top notch HDR shot. To me this is the best I have seen from you guys till date. Congratulations.

    Thomas — March 24th, 2009 at 05:24

  6. I looked like a very cold day. Good shot.

    Miguel Hau — March 24th, 2009 at 05:27

  7. Jeg likte det ferdige resultatet! Til tross for den deilige, varme fargen i bildet, får bildet en nesten skummel stemning. Nesten som om bildet er tatt på en annen planet, eller forurensningen fra fabrikken i bakgrunnen har blitt så utbredt at alt blir annerledes, eller… :)

    De to gjerdestolpene i forgrunnen forstyrrer meg litt. De har ingen spesiell rolle i motivet, de bare ER der.

    ithil — March 24th, 2009 at 07:06

  8. amazing gold tones, great work

    BoB — March 24th, 2009 at 07:41

  9. Great composition and interesting work! Perfect HDR!

    Rolf — March 24th, 2009 at 09:21

  10. The image result with the single exposure is beautiful. But the HDR is like a dream. Like a scene from another world. I like the monotone…

    jyothy — March 24th, 2009 at 09:25

  11. Very freaky, yet still compelling. Well worth sharing.

    Harry — March 24th, 2009 at 12:11

  12. And in my haste, I forgot to complement you on the stunning composition. First the site selection – most would avoid the power plant, but you use it to stunning effect; second the horizon placement – so much emphasis on the sun falling on the land.

    Harry — March 24th, 2009 at 12:15

  13. first off, i think the composition & framing is really excellent, the surprising final result from the 7-exposure HDR is really what it is.. surprising! :D there are some quirks with the normal exposure shown below compared to the HDR version but i think you did a great job with it even before the HDR.. really great work.. :)

    rian — March 24th, 2009 at 12:23

  14. Espectacular, grandioso trabajo sobre todo en el tono de la fotografia, buena composicion.
    Saludos.

    Alex — March 24th, 2009 at 16:08

  15. it almost looks like as you have deliberately chosen this particular toning… from my small experience with hdr and digital fotography I can say that if you want to get what you have in mind you should have the complete control of the digital workflow. but this is not feasible, because you’ll never know the inner algorithms of photomatix or (in my case) I’ll never have enough time to study the sources of qtpfsgui.
    btw the effect is gorgeous

    Paolo — March 24th, 2009 at 16:16

  16. The colors are surprising, but personally in this case I prefer the 1 exposure shot!

    mario iso101 — March 24th, 2009 at 16:20

  17. Bildet er varmt samtidig som det ser kaldt ut der. Bildet ble helt toppers og fargen samt motivet falt i god smak her.

    (Men kanskje en lavere iso ville unnlatt det varme i bildet?)

    Rune — March 24th, 2009 at 17:04

  18. I love the golden tones. Does make it appear to be more surreal than the second image. Really like the effect on the surface of the water and the rising mist. The sun is excellent, a perfect disc with beautiful rays. Excellent HDRI.

    John Maslowski — March 25th, 2009 at 07:53

  19. Whoa!
    This looks like King Midas’ Land…
    Fantastisk! :)

    windzausel — March 25th, 2009 at 09:01

  20. Impresionante. El colorido y la luz de la imagen sus excelentes. Esa especie de bruma que sobrevuela por encima del agua es fantástica. Creo que es un gran trabajo.

    Pere — March 25th, 2009 at 12:21

  21. I like it quite a lot. Only thing I don’t like about it is the tree on the left, because its trunk and branches don’t match up and is kind of odd looking to me. I would have cropped that out.

    Otherwise it’s really different. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a shot like it. Good work.

    613photo — March 25th, 2009 at 17:15

  22. The golden glow you have given this one makes it look very unreal.. Nice work!

    Claus — March 25th, 2009 at 17:19

  23. This is a great looking HDR, the golden color is awesome. I agree that the fence post didnt do anything for the image, but I do like the tree there. Very nice work

    Ivar — March 25th, 2009 at 19:54

  24. i like it. has the hdr detail in the shadows and the brilliance of a sunrise shot.

    Joe — March 25th, 2009 at 21:16

  25. Ah… I feel our blogs are somehow in sync today. Straight into the sun with industrial backdrops.

    This is truly a unique sunrise. It has a look of a different world. It really highlights the mist and also gave you a wonderful sunburst. I also like the single exposure shot. It still has a very unique look to it, but accentuates things differently. Really nice.

    Mike Paulison — March 25th, 2009 at 23:08

  26. personally i like the one exposure one more! the smoke adds a lot to the image. good one!

    joshi daniel — March 26th, 2009 at 03:00

  27. I personally am very impressed with the quality of the one exposure shot. I think it is more natural and quite powerful and beautiful.

    Laurie — March 26th, 2009 at 11:11

  28. Nydelig!

    Corvus — March 26th, 2009 at 11:15

  29. It looks unreal. Wow! Just Wow!

    Teri — March 26th, 2009 at 14:09

  30. Det ble virkelig et flott bilde – både varmt og kaldt, vakkert og skremmende på en gang :-D

    Objektiv-t — March 26th, 2009 at 17:21

  31. Vakkert, vakkert Randi!
    Alle disse fotoordene har jeg ikke peiling på, men bildet var nydelig! Likte best det øverste:)

    R — March 26th, 2009 at 17:29

  32. I think it turned out wonderfully well! The golden glow suits the scene perfectly! Don’t you just love these unexpected outcomes? :)

    Arjan - PlasticDaisy — March 27th, 2009 at 09:20

  33. Heartening to see that the Comments are as interesting as the images . . but I come down strongly in favor of the single original you have shown. That is, perhaps, all the more surprising when you consider that this is an almost impossible image for even a top-range digital to cope with : even the dynamic range of film would struggle with this blaze, I imagine ! Great posting of a great image.

    Ronnie 2¢ — March 27th, 2009 at 17:38

  34. This is a nice surprise in Photomatix! When I get surprises in this program, they are usually nasty… Like a lot the mono orange tone. Think it works well for this picture. Have to admit that the single exposure is very good too.

    Abel — March 27th, 2009 at 19:53

  35. Golden view! Fantastic, BRAVO… :)

    ida — March 28th, 2009 at 10:58

  36. no I absolutely cast my vote for the HDR version of it… I haven’t seen something like this before… I mean it’s exactly a golden effect… and I don’t think one can create it somewhere else with any other software or plug-in and achieve this much real golden glow like this… the sun’s reflection in the water and its surrounding is absolutely amazing… perfect work… this is a really rare kind of photo u’ve created… congrats & tanx for sharing… I enjoyed it a lot… I can’t keep my eyes from looking at that point where sun is reflected in the water… :D

    Kaveh Saffari — March 28th, 2009 at 12:55

  37. What a cool surprise and love the combination of the steam and smoke. Great composition!

    Terry H. — March 28th, 2009 at 13:52

  38. Thank you for your well expressed and interesting opinions voiced through the comments for this post. We learn from the comments and have the fun experience of seeing our work through someone else’s eyes.
    Your comments are deeply appreciated – Thanks for taking the time and effort!

    framedandshot — March 28th, 2009 at 21:08

  39. what for a great sunset – wonderful work!

    a.h.lex — March 29th, 2009 at 14:00

  40. Wow! Two excellent results, golden hour my favorite. You have a well control of the exposure in the non-HDR shot. The scenery and framing is unbelievable. Bravo.

    Doum — March 30th, 2009 at 11:06

  41. Unbelievable. Looks really apocalyptic or out of this world.
    Amazing result. Absolutely splendid.

    Ilan — March 31st, 2009 at 14:19

  42. Nice image. Very well composed and with an interesting light. It is good to experiment, isn’t it? :)

    Marcello — April 1st, 2009 at 11:33

  43. Regardless of how the image was processed, I like the back-light and silhouette effects in this scene. The clouds and vapors over the water are great too. Both the HDR result and the single frame shot are excellent photos to my eye.

    gavin hart — April 4th, 2009 at 01:37

  44. In my humble opinion there is absolutely no need for the 7 exposure HDR version. It looks a bit over the top for me. The single exposure is very impressive already, don’t think my eos400 can cope with this dynamic range.
    Did you syncronise the white-balance of all 7 raws before processing? That has given me some unpredictable results in the past.

    Asgardr — April 5th, 2009 at 04:20

  45. That’s a really pretty shot, and a great contrast between nature and industry. To be honest, it didn’t look like HDR (maybe I need to get a better eye!). It looked processed, certainly, but I didn’t think it was HDR.

    I think the HDR makes for a really interesting effect in this picture. I’ve been playing around with HDR as well recently, but I’ve not come up with anything I want to post.

    Tom — April 12th, 2009 at 07:50

  46. I prefer the one exposure shot. I’d maybe apply a slight vignette for the sky to reduce (or hide) the greenish tone in both of the corners.
    I also think this could have been interesting if composed with a even longer lens (or coming closer) with the lower side just where the water starts, the factory in the frame and the sun just outside it. Looking at the fog rising from the water this could be a really dreamy scene. Though it is already.

    A.B.C. Photography — April 14th, 2009 at 11:13

  47. Une photo de toute beauté!

    Cath — May 21st, 2009 at 14:37

  48. This is a beautiful shot even without HDR! HDR version increases the detail and it creates a totally different ambient for the observer. The 1-exposure version is calm and silent, and the HDR version is dramatic!

    Beautiful work!
    All the best!

    Bosko — October 6th, 2009 at 04:16

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