Hei guys! Back with another video. If you’re been following my videos you know that I mentioned that I challenged myself to shoot 30 sunrises in a row for 30 days. I’m happy to say that I have woken up 30 times at 615AM since the 5th of May to 3rd of June to shoot the sunrise. Here are the results and the analysis of the 30 images.

So the rules I gave myself were simple. Get up and shoot as if I was photographing sunrise at an actual location. When I photograph a sunrise or sunset, I make an effort to be there 1 hour before the actual sunrise. Here’s 3 reasons WHY YOU START 1 HOUR EARLY

The best light and colours are often times pre-dawn before the sun peeks over the horizon. And we are going to see this shortly in the results of the 30 day challenge.
Even though I should have scouted out this location already, I want to spend some time to make sure that I have the best composition and framing. Being there early gives me time to look for interesting foreground elements and try out different compositions.
If it’s a popular location, being early allows me first pick of where to set up my tripod without having to compete with other photographers. Certain locations only allow space for one composition or one photographer.

Certain compositions are so tight that only one photographer can shoot from the spot at a time.

I also allow myself to continue shooting for up to 1 hour after sunrise, just in case something spectacular happens while the light is still directional.

From the entire shoot, I choose the best shot of the day and edit it to the best of my abilities.

So the big question is WHY? Why did I do this?

Even though we are not allowed to go out for photography, I didn’t want my skills to deteriorate. In this 30 days my hands are kept familiar with my camera, settings, my tripod, my filters. Even my post processing techniques are kept current, and I kept learning new ways to edit my photos.

It was also an interesting experiment. How many sunrises out of 30 will I consider to be “good”? Which are my favourite shots? Are the best ones pre-dawn, when the sun was below the horizon, or after the sun was high in the sky?

Scroll down to end of blog for full resolution version of each image.

Out of 30 shots, only 5 were taken when the sun was above the horizon. 25 photos were pre-dawn, or before the sun came up. That goes to show that the best time to photograph sunrise is usually before dawn.

My favourite shot? Wow, that’s tough. I would say between 17 May, 11 May and 2nd June. I think 2nd June is the favourite.

If I had to pick one favourite, this will be it. Blend of 2 exposures of the same sunrise at different timings.

It’s actually a composite of 2 images, the foreground and the sunstar was taken at 0704AM, and the red clouds in the sky was taken earlier at 0648AM. If you’d like me to show you how I blended the images together, and I did it in a few minutes, let me know in the comments.

My least favourite, this one:

Out of 30 shots, 9 images had some sort of “God rays” in them.

“God Rays” or Crepuscular Rays seen shining from the horizon

Despite Singapore’s high rainfall, only 1 image was taken with rain.

In conclusion, I’m really glad that I did this challenge and remained productive during this “circuit breaker” lockdown. I now have a unique set of images that defines my “circuit breaker” experience.

Here’s the set of complete images. Click for high resolution version. Let me know which one’s your favourite!