Beautiful Sunrise

I think I had the sunrise of my dreams this Sunday.  I have been wanting to get a sunrise picture of the Dallas skyline.  As part of the opening weekend ceremonies for the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge, they had Aztec dancers scheduled.  This was a performance that you don't see very often, I decided I really wanted to see it.

My friend Becky and I loaded up her car and we headed downtown for the sunrise.  We got there and the view was fantastic.  There were no clouds in the sky, so we were able to see a very colorful morning sky.  I couldn't have asked for a better sunrise and the skyline is very beautiful.

Once we finished photographing the sunrise, we walked onto the bridge.  Once again, this is very visually beautiful bridge.  The suspension cables really make it look great.  Also, the metal takes on color.  If you look at my fireworks pictures, you can see that the bridge took on the colors of the exploding fireworks.  The same happened in the morning.  As the sun came up a bright orange, the suspension cables started to take on the same orange color.  It makes for great photographs.

Without any further adieu...

 This is an HDR shot of downtown Dallas.  I think this is my best HDR shot to date.  The detail in the foreground is amazing, the reflection in the water came out just enough, the detail in the buildings is fantastic and the sky helped out with just enough color.

1 Sec. Exp., 45mm, F/5.6, ISO 100

 This is a regular shot; no HDR.  The sky was a great blue and orange color.

1/30 Sec. Exp., 50mm, F/5.6, ISO 100

This is a closeup of the bridge.  Like I said, the suspension cables are what really make this bridge beautiful.  This is a great example of back lighting.  That is where the light source (Usually the sun) is on the other side of your subject from you.  This casts your subject into a silhouette.  I really like that look.

As I said earlier, the reason we went back to the bridge was to see the Aztec dancers.  I must say, it was a great performance.  There were a lot of people gathered around, so it made getting a good line of sight very difficult.  I was finally able to get to the front and I got some good shots.  Here are some of them.

1/320 Sec. Exp., 38mm, F/5.6, ISO 400

1/200 Sec. Exp., 120mm, F/5.6, ISO 800

 As you can see, their costumes were great and full of color.  They made for great photographs.

1/160 Sec. Exp., 125mm, F/5.6, ISO 800

That is it for now.  I have a great location picked out for next Sunday's sunrise photo shoot and I'll try to get out a couple of times before that.  Thank you again for checking out my blog.  You can check out more of my pictures at:  http://www.facebook.com/MarcusDavisPhotography

Until next time...