Ox Stones at Sunrise

Ox Stones, Burbage Moor, Peak District

It has been quite a while since I last managed to go out and watch the sunrise. And I have almost forgotten how positive an experience it is! Of course, it is so much easier to see the sunrise in winter than in the summer.
There was a bit of frost overnight and it made the short trek from the lay-by fairly easy. I have arrived c. 40 minutes before the actual sunrise, and before the actual sunrise is when the most interesting things happen, photographically speaking. The image above was taken at 6:58, roughly 20 minutes before sunrise. The following was taken 10 minutes after the sunrise. The difference in the colour of the ambient light is dramatic.

First light on Ox Stones, Burbage Moor, Peak District

For all images that morning I have used a fish-eye lens (Samyang 8mm, effective focal length 13mm) and cropped later as composition dictated. This lens produces a very natural looking image, and as long as you keep the camera level (to keep the horizon straight), and there are no linear elements, the distortions associated with fish-eye lenses are barely visible.