Tag: sunrise

Fantastic Santorini photography – low cloud at sunrise
Sunrise with clouds below the caldera photographed from Kasimatis Suites. Sunrise and sunset can be different every day, like this surreal sunrise with a blanket of cloud just below the hotel in Imerovigli on the Greek Island of Santorini

This is one of my favourite images of Santorini.

When I say fantastic photography I need to explain – this is not me bigging myself up – I just needed to get the keyword Santorini photography into one blog post – no point trying to hide this is there?

In all seriousness I really do love this photo of a weather phenomenon which you can’t get anywhere – you need certain conditions to get clouds right below your hotel like I saw this morning!

This is still one of my favourite photos of Santorini.

Why do I like this photo so much?

I have never seen such a scene before. This was what greeted us on the first morning.

A blanket of cloud immediately below us. Now I had moved around quite a lot taking lots of photos of all this good stuff before returning to the hotel to get this great photo with that dense layer of grey morning clouds with the sunrise immediately above.

I love the contrast of the colours and the uniqueness of this scene.

And the fact that it was taken at the actual hotel that we stayed at is special to me. Special as my wife spent a lot of time choosing this exact hotel for my photographic trip to Santorini.

And what a great choice of hotel she came up with!

How did I decide on this composition?

This was the view from the back of the hotel, the Kasimatis Suites.

I went down to the steps at the bottom of the hotel, below which there is nothing but rocks and the sea.

And on this day clouds.

The scene did not work as well for me – the composition from there was not as interesting.

I settled on the view you can see in the main image on this post – this was telling the story of a morning at a hotel on the Greek Island of Santorini. A sunrise morning with low clouds, which is not unique but hardly a daily occurrence either.

I love the contrast between the hardness of the white buildings and the softness of the grey clouds, all topped off by that lovely sunrise warmth which has not yet reached down to the clouds below.

Where was the photo taken?

At the Kasimatis Suites in Imerovigli on the Greek Island of Santorini. I have to say this as some people will read this one blog posts on its own so I have to explain in enough detail these things on every post!

Look at the extract from Lightroom. It is so detailed you can see the swimming pool, and exactly where I took this photo!

What time of day was the photo taken?

4:53. Yep that early.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot?
- Canon 6D
- Canon 24-105mm F4 L Lens
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack
- Loupe Viewer
- Red hat
- Oakley sunglasses
- Red shoes – fresh on!
- This was pre-morning coffee!
What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F8
- Shutter speeds 1/250th second, 1/1000th second and 1/60th second.
- ISO 100
- Back-button focus
- Focal length 24mm
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
One interesting fact about the image.

It is taken just down from our room at the Kasimatis Suites. The steps down were to some of the other rooms in the hotel.

And I had not even had a coffee – it was a case of wake up and get out there.

OK there is one more fact – I was woken by my wife who was awake before me and opened the curtains to be greeted with this amazing scene!

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

No. There was much too much going on for that! Which I will be completely honest with you is a regret.

I would have loved to have some videos of this bank of morning cloud, but I don’t have any. Another reason to go back to Santorini then.

Having said that there is this video taken from a slightly different viewpoint which gives you an idea of what the scene looked like, and sounded like!

How did I process the image?

This one took a while to produce in Lightroom. First job was to merge the three bracketed images together in Lightroom to form a new Dng file.

Next job was to get the verticals and horizontals correct. After that I always do white balance.

This gives me a technically accurate starting point for the more creative processing.

Most of the processing was done in the Basic and HSL panels in Lightroom. There was quite a bit of cleaning up to do, removing blemishes, dust spots and random bits of lights and stuff in the building that were detracting from the scene.

What could I have done to improve the image?

Hmmm. Not sure to be honest.

I need to get rid of that bit of wall bottom right I have only just noticed this writing this section.

And that is the point of me asking this question – it forces me to look at the images I have created and see what is in there that I dont like, and think about ways that I could have created a better image.

This is something I recommend everyone does who wants to Improve their pototgraphy – critique your photos yourself and even better get someone else to do this for you.

Not you parents, husband, wife, children or best friend. They will just say that they think your photos are great even if they are rubbish!

No ask someone who knows what they are talking about who will be honest with you.

My first critique as with a Hasselblad Master who was my BIPP mentor no less!

Look at a your photos – study them. I recommend once you have processed a set of images leave them for a decent length of time and then come back to them and give yourself time to look at them and study them properly – you will be amazed what you will find that has always been there that you never noticed before like that bit of wall bottom right!

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I have never seen weather like this. I have never looked down on clouds from my hotel with a big bright band of orange sunrise light above the clouds.

This scene was surreal, and a morning that I will not forget in a long time.

I am happy that this image brings back those memories of that morning – this is why I love photography so much.

And also why I want to go back to wonderful Santorini. Then again there are so many other places on this wonderful planet of ours.

Enough of me – what do you think of this image?

Have you ever seen such a lovely sunrise photo on Santorini?

Am I right describing this as fantastic Santorini photography??

Let me know what you think, even if it is to tell me that I have been speaking a load of rubbish!

Talking of my next venture, now that I am getting near to the end of the creation of this website I would like to tell you about my next website which I will be working on next week called Paxos Travel Guide. Yes I am staying in Greece and producing another travel website, this one with slightly different content to photos of Santorini.

One last thing

If you want to buy this image, or want to speak to me about future collaboration email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, writer, blogger
25/10/2018
Probably one of the best Santorini photo locations?
Picture of sunrise on the Greek Island of Santorini, with the view looking towards Imerovigli from the top of the Santoini Caldera. Never before have I seen both cold blue and sunrise warmth in the same image

A fundamental question when going on a photography trip is where to take photos from. Now I don’t do extensive research before I go on a trip, but I do have a quick look so I get a general idea of what I will be wandering around.

So the fundamental question is this – is the caldera one of the best Santorini photo locations? In my opinion clearly this is a yes – I took all the photos on this website on the caldera, and only left the caldera (reluctantly) to go home!

Why do I like this photo so much?

Simple. It is the first image that I have captured which shows so clearly the different colour temperatures before sunrise and during sunrise in one image. To the right the light is cold and blue, and to the left you can clearly see the warmth provided by the rising sun. And you can also see the transition from cold to warm in the clouds in the sky.

I have never captured this before in one image in quite such a dramatic way – that was the beauty of the location I was taking the photo from. And the beauty of taking photographs on the wonderful Greek Island of Santorini. Every day on Santorini the sunrise was different – it was quite amazing to witness.

The image also gives a great representation of the topography of the island, with the buildings visible on the top of the caldera to the west, with the island gradually falling down to the sea to the east.

And it also shows the value of getting up early in the morning and getting out there! Even on holiday I love doing this.

Sorry that reminded me – my favourite images tend to be ones taken at sunrise, which is my favourite part of every day. There is something special about being the only one out there watching a new day unfold.

How did I decide on this composition?

I had already walked past this location and made a mental note of the unrestricted view of Imerovigli and so much of the island. I was up and about early that morning and quickly found this spot again.

I realised that from this viewpoint I could show the topography of the island from a different angle, as well as the coastline on both sides of the island. To be honest I have not seen this particular view before. Not that I do extensive research before I visit a location.

I wanted to show the contrast in the coastlines, the east coast having gentle sloping land down to the sea, with the west coast consisting of steep plummeting cliffs.

I wanted to show the shape and size of the caldera on the main island.

I also wanted foreground content which showed the terrain away from the built-up areas.

I wanted to represent Santorini in one photograph.

Where was the photo taken?

The photo was taken from the top of the caldera, right where the number five is on the Lightroom Map extract.

This is a great location to take photos from – just to the left is the church that features in some of my other images you can see on this website.

This is one of the reasons why GPS in a camera is so important in my travel photography – I can see exactly where I took every photo which is invaluable in the work that I do.

And also the reason I scout my own locations so I get the compositions that I want, and not the headline shots that everyone else seems to go for.

What time of day was the photo taken?

Just after 6am in the morning. I was up long before 4am on this morning as I knew where I was walking to for the sunrise.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot
- Canon 6D
- Canon 17 – 40mm F4 L Lens (focal length used 17mm)
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Loupe Viewer
- My red hat
- Oakley sunglasses
- Pepsi Max
- Red shoes (feet already acheing by now)
What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F16
- Shutter speeds 1/50th second, 1/200th second and 1/13th second.
- ISO 400. I was surprised that I used an ISO of 400. But thinking about it the clouds were moving, and I didn’t want the shutter speed too slow or I would have got blur in the clouds. ISO 400 on the Canon 6D really isn’t a problem – the sensor can give a super clean image at this sensitivity.
- Back-button focus
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
One interesting fact about the image.

Well the range of colour temperatures for one thing – I have never captured them quite like this before. Other than that no dramas on this shoot.

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

Yes – there is the 360 view I captured using my iPhone not long before the image was taken. You can check it out on YouTube.

How did I process the image?

Firstly I merged the three images together in Lightroom to create a single image.

The challenge with this image was to get the white balance correct, as I had two colour temperatures in the same image – talk about mixed lighting!

To get the white balance correct I used the eye dropper tool and selected a neutral part of the clouds, which I found in the end! I went to the middle of the image, where the two light sources met. All you need to do is move the eye dropper tool over what looks like a neutral part of the picture, and get the three numbers as close as possible, and then click and tht is that done!

After that processing was done in the Basic Panel in Lightroom, which I did using the Vibrance slider before moving on to the HSL Panel. Here I played around with the colours and luminances – what I was trying to recreate was the scene that I remember seeing with my own eyes. I can still picture that wonderful scene with the warm light to the left and the cold light to the right – such a stunning natural occurrence.

I finsihed off the image with a bit of cleaning up in Photoshop, removing sensor dust spots and irritations around the edges – no major editing to be fair.

What could I have done to improve the image?

Hmmm. Well I could have moved somewhere else and got a lovely white church in the foreground but I wanted to convey the topography of the Santorini caldera without a building in the composition.

I am after all looking to capture a range of images, not throw everything into every image.

Less is more.

And to be honest I am very happy with this image.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I like this image a lot. Once I had selected the first 20 images for this website this was the first one that I uploaded. This is one of my favourite photos of Santorini.

I love the two colour temperatues in the image – I have never captured these before.

And I also like the fact that in one image I am showing the contrasting landscape, with the gentle slope to the east and the cliffs of the caldera to the west. You can just see the white buildings of Imerovigli on the top of the caldera in their spectacular, iconic Santorini location.

I wanted an image that told the story of Santorini in one image, and also an image that was different from most of the photos of Santorini that you see on the internet.

Enough of me – what do you think of this image?

Yep what do you think? Please let me know as at the end of the day I have an emotional attachment to this photo.

And I really do appreciate feedback on my photographs.

One last thing

If you want to buy this image, or want to speak to me about future collaboration email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, writer, blogger
04/10/2018