Create a colourful pastel sunrise

Sean McCormack reveals how to edit sunrise shots in Lightroom Classic

- Sean McCormack

As the days slowly start to shorten, those who love to sleep have more chance of catching a sunrise. The early starts that are needed for mid-summer sunrises make way for us to only need to get up slightly earlier and grab some magic morning shots before work. One technique that can help get the most detail and colour in photographs is called ‘Expose to the Right’, or ETTR. It’s a simple principle where you expose to capture a lighter photo, rather than the medium exposure the camera metering suggests. You will still be avoiding clipped highlights, though.

While sensor technology has improved, there’s less information in the shadows, so boosting them can introduce unwanted noise. It’s easy to darken shadows in editing, avoiding problems with potential noise. The image can look washed out, but that’s okay, as your intention is to shoot with postprocessing in mind, and there’s information we can pull out of the RAW file. The processing looks at Profile, Contrast, and Saturation. There’s often clean-up work to do with spot removal and getting rid of unwanted items. Here’s how...

STEP BY STEP SHOOT AND EDIT A SUNRISE