Another bitterly cold morning on the east coast of fife with temperatures below freezing. This actually allows for better light so decided to head out for sunrise. The weather seemed to be in my favour as the met office was saying there was to be a clear sky with little cloud cover. The tide was completely out which I really didn't want (I prefer the tide to be in, as you can capture more of the pier in water) but that’s just the way it goes sometimes!

I didn't want to travel too far this morning so set off at about 7.45 heading for the village of Aberdour. It is only a 20 minute drive from home so arrived in plenty of time as sunrise was at 8.32. I have been to this location before and there are various positions to shoot from.

I wanted to get as close as possible as I knew the tide was out so decided on the most accessible route. It’s quite easy to get to, just follow the signs for Silver Sands beach , continue down the track past all the car parks until you can't go any further. On parking the car, head to your right up the slope and over the hill, down the steps and to your left.

I set up on the waters edge facing the sunrise and like always, I wanted to capture a little movement in the sky and cut the reflections from the rocks while smoothing the water, so all the usual filters came into play! The polariser for glare, a 3 stop graduated ND filter to bring down the exposure in the sky and 6 stop ND filter to add movement to the sky and smooth the water. However, I did try to experiment by bracketing my exposures to begin with but ultimately, decided on the long exposure using F11 for about 4 minutes to capture this and of course, ISO 100 for maximum sharpness.