It’s a pleasure being out in the woods this time of year. After the long, dark winter and (often) grey and dull early spring, the forests are now full of life. Birds tweeting, flowers blooming and the wonderful vibrant spring-foliage.

My favorite time of day out there is around sunrise. The soft pre-sunrise light has some very nice qualities to it. It is warm without being harsh, and contrasts the blue shadows nicely. Side-lit tree-trunks get nice color and definition in the bark, at the same time as the sidelight gives the scene nice 3D-properties.

Light can still be nice and soft after sunrise, given a low horizon so that the sun emerges into the scene before the light is too white and harsh. And of course, there’s always the possibility of using the sunstar in the compositions.

My strategy for outings like this is to be on location at least half an hour before sunrise. That way, scenes and compositions can be found, and hopefully the first images taken well before sunrise. I also try to plan the after-sunrise spots well ahead of time, so that when the sun is visible, I don’t have to run around like a headless chicken without getting anything. After the initial sunrise captures, I often try to incorporate the sun in my photos, playing with the sunstar, foreground light and shadows.

The problem with this strategy is that sunrise is very early here up north this time of year. These days the sun comes up around 0330 am! Add getting dressed, a snack and a coffee, maybe half an hours drive and ditto hike, and you got yourself a very short night of sleep. Unless bedtime is at 1900 hrs the night before. Well, no pain, no gain. I still find it very rewarding.

I have put together a small gallery of images captured the last couple of weeks. All these were captured with Hasselblad X2D and the 21mm or the 35-75mm zoom. Hope you like it, have a great weekend!