Sunrise or Nautical twilight..? What is the difference please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 9479
  • Start date Start date
D

Deleted member 9479

Guest
Evening.. I'm off to Suffolk tomorrow and all being well, if the weather holds I am hoping to get another shot at a coastal sunrise on Saturday morning, possibly Southwold. On checking a website for the current sunrise times, I get this information:

Astronomical twilight begins: 05:52
Nautical twilight begins: 06:33
Civil twilight begins: 07:15
Sunrise: 07:52

Never heard of 'Nautical twilight' - is that any good for photography..??
 
I would hazard a guess at Astronimical twilight as the point at which stars can no longer be seen, Nautical the point at which the horizon becomes visible, and civil is I think just an arbitrary point.
 
Sunrise = the moment the top part of the sun actually comes into view.

Civil twilight = sun is below the horizon but its centre is < 6 degrees below the horizon

Nautical twilight = centre of sun is between 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon

Astronomical twilight = centre of sun is between 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon

If you want the sun in your shot then sunrise is the appropriate time to consider, if it's colours in the sky then one of the twilights is the relevant time, depending on what it is you want to see.

Note that the apparent sun position/sunrise time/etc. can be affected by altitude, air pressure and temperature (which drive refraction), so take figures with a grain of salt as to their precise accuracy, even if the source of the times claims to take refraction into account they can't possibly know the exact air pressure and temperature it will be on the day.

There. Clear as mud? ;) :p
 
Artyman is also correct in that the horizon is becoming visible during nautical twilight.
 
For anyone interested in photography at sunrise and sunset (and the moon too) this site http://stephentrainor.com/tools is really useful.

I'm fairly sure it is also available as an app for in iphone.

Dave
 
Newbie question, and apologies for the thread drift: what are the typical differences between sunset and sunrise in terms of the qualities of the light?
 
MikeMS said:
Newbie question, and apologies for the thread drift: what are the typical differences between sunset and sunrise in terms of the qualities of the light?
Click to expand...

Good question. From personal experience I find the light better at sunset, but that might because I shoot more sunsets than sunrise (I am too lazy for sunrise). Sunrise always seems to give a more salmon coloured glow (probably a technical name for it) and the light tends to appear as the colour fades, or so it seems to be....Sunset on the other hand starts to produce interesting colour while the rest of the sky is still reasonably light, giving you longer to shoot.

That is a bit rambling and has no scientific backing, but I always find shooting a sunset much easier and effective.
 
Tringa said:
For anyone interested in photography at sunrise and sunset (and the moon too) this site http://stephentrainor.com/tools is really useful.

I'm fairly sure it is also available as an app for in iphone.

Dave
Click to expand...
There is a new website for that - http://photoephemeris.com/, and it's available for iphone/ipad and it looks like he's doing an Android version as well.

Alternatively (and I'm being a bit cautious here as it could be taken as advertising, even though it's something that's free) you might take a look at the link in my signature. It does sunrise/set/position and moonrise/set, and shows field of view as well as other stuff).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top