The best way to get early morning shots is to shoot early in the morning. Sounds like a Yogi Berra-ism. Nevertheless, if you want the best light — long shadows for high contrast, colourful (saturated) hues in the sunlight, and atmosphere — then you have no choice but to get up early in the morning and force yourself outside. For most of us, that’s a tough slog. I’m not naturally a morning person. When the alarm clock goes off, typically I groan, roll over, and fall back to sleep. But on the mornings when I do force myself outside, the rewards justify the groaning. Here’s an example from two days ago on a farm north of London, Ontario. The exif file tells me I shot this at 6:36 am i.e. 36 minutes after my alarm went off.
Some tips for getting up at first light:
1) Set more than one alarm. Make sure they’re out of reach so you have to get out of bed to turn them off.
2) Organize your gear the night before so you can just grab it on your way out the door. Make sure it includes a water bottle and a snack. Along the same lines, shower the night before. You want to get out of bed and be off as soon as possible.
3) If you absolutely must have a caffeine fix before you go out, adjust your alarm clock accordingly so you have a few extra minutes to make yourself a coffee. Alternatively, have the butler make it for you. Keep your coffee in a sealable thermos because there’s nothing worse than spilling hot coffee over your camera.
4) Depending on when you wake up, pack a small LED flashlight. This is especially true if you have to hike any distance to your location.
5) If dew is an issue at your location, wear rubber-soled hiking shoes/boots. Even with the hiking shoes, I got a soaker taking this shot. I should have worn wellies.
6) Bring a tripod. This may seem kind of obvious, but if you’re shooting in low light, you need to open things up, which means you need to steady your camera.
7) Organize your location the night before. This is the mental part of the exercise. Know beforehand where you’re going and anticipate the conditions you’ll encounter. Early light is fleeting. Just hoping to catch something probably means that by the time you’ve composed your shot, it’s gone.