Royal Natal, before sunrise. The top of the wall lights up orange minutes before the valley gets any light.
18-150 · 18–50mmPolariser ONHood onTripod
- Mode
- Av
- Aperture
- f/11
- ISO
- 100
- Exposure ±
- −⅓
- Drive
- 2-second timer on the tripod
- Focus
- One-Shot on the wall
Do this
- Be in position 30 minutes before sunrise. It's cold; battery in your inside pocket until you set up.
- Tripod, ISO 100, f/11. Stabiliser off (Shooting menu → IS mode) while on the tripod.
- Watch the top edge of the wall. When it catches fire, shoot every minute for fifteen minutes as the light walks down.
- Polariser on: at dawn the sun is to your side here, so it deepens the sky. Rotate and judge on screen.
- Foreground: a tree, the river, a rock. The wall alone is a postcard; the wall behind something is a photograph.
- Once the sun clears the ridge, take the polariser off and shoot the valley in the warm light.
If it goes wrong
- Wall bright, valley black
- That's the truth of dawn. Take the frame anyway, and another ten minutes later when the light is more even.
- Cloud on the wall
- Stay. It lifts and drops. Cloud tearing off the summit is a better photo than a clear wall.