I cheated to get this sunrise shot

Pretty much everyone loves sunrises and sunsets. The colours and the mood created are amazing. Here is one I took today.

Thirty seconds after this was taken, at least four shutter bugs appeared and filled in the foreground - lucky for me I was done.

Other than noticing that the shutter bugs perched themselves alongside the safety rail, some with tripods, some not, I didn't pay much attention to what they were doing. But I do  know that I cheated to get this image, Here's how:

1. 20 mins before this time, the colours looked promising, so I was looking around for a spot to put my camera to frame the scene I was hoping to get. Trying different things, not liking most of my choices, then finally I  honed in on what was working and ended up under a large tree and used the branches and safety rail to frame the skyline.
2.  I used a tripod and a remote shutter release.
3. I bracketed my shots so I have room to move creatively, ie if I wanted a silhouette shot or something else.
4. The interplay between the colours and the city skyline are the main characters here, but I like creating a supporting cast. In this case the branches balanced the space and the gorgeous colours in the sky were being bounced off the hand rails.

You can't always (consciously) "see" what you have shot. There is a lot to notice in this shot, eg the tops of the skyscrapers and the arms of the two illuminated cranes created nice converging diagonals.

Next time you're up early for sunrise, don't forget to cheat! :-)

have fun! ☺

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