How to take sunset photos

[Carolyn]

Can anyone give me good tips on taking sunset photos. Besides using a tripod and remote commander, what settings should I try. I tried some tonight but by the time I had some taken (and not good ones) the sun had set.

Carolyn

[JamesB]

here are a few examples, shutter speed, F# below the thumbnail's

the ISO is usually 100 or 200

taken with Sony 707

http://www.nightshooter.com/707/Land...ets/index.html

here are a few more with my D60
http://www.nightshooter.com/D60/Land...ets/index.html

a lot of the results you get depend on what you are wanting to see in your image of the sun set. I usually spend so much time changing settings I dont get to fully enjoy the sunset.

But to get an general idea where you want your settings, just cheat a little. Put the camera in full auto mode. ISO @ 100. Point camera towards the sunset, and depress the shutter half way. you should see what shutter speed and apeture the camera auto selected.

Now put the camera in full manual mode, still ISO 100, and play with the shutter speed and apeture. I usually keep the apeture @ f8 to f16 and i just keep adjusting the shutter speed for a little longer exposure

Also you can take one well over exposed shot to get good lighting on the ground, DONT move the camera or focus, and take a properly exposed shot and one under exposed. you can combine them to get the detail in the ground, mid sky and high sky

Im sure others have some different techniques, but this is how I do it

James

[HighPlainsDox]

Originally Posted by Carolyn

Can anyone give me good tips on taking sunset photos. Besides using a tripod and remote commander, what settings should I try. I tried some tonight but by the time I had some taken (and not good ones) the sun had set.

Carolyn,

I have an aperture-priority 35mm film camera. I adjust the aperture, and the camera decides what shutter speed to use. I adjust my zoom, then focus. Then I adjust my aperture (f/stop) to give me 1/500 second, sometimes 1/1000. If I can't get that fast, I'll keep opening my aperture to give me the fastest shutter speed below 1/500 and no less than 1/125. Seems to work for me:

http://www.pbase.com/doxielover1/sunrises_sunsets

:)

I shoot mine hand-held for most part. Because of that, I try to keep it at or above 1/125 second.

[pudaniel]

Originally Posted by Carolyn

Can anyone give me good tips on taking sunset photos. Besides using a tripod and remote commander, what settings should I try. I tried some tonight but by the time I had some taken (and not good ones) the sun had set.

Carolyn

Here's a web site that can help...
http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques....cfm?recid=242

Peter Daniel

[bbailey]

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure." He has a whole section devoted to how to easily meter and shoot sunrise/sunset shots. The rest of the book is excellent as well, with tons of info on how to expose for certian situations and effects.

[Carolyn]

Thanks for all the help. :) Hopefully I'll get a good one and share it with ya'll.

Carolyn

[Justin]

Originally Posted by bbailey

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure." He has a whole section devoted to how to easily meter and shoot sunrise/sunset shots. The rest of the book is excellent as well, with tons of info on how to expose for certian situations and effects.

Oh man you totally stole my thunder. I was flying through this thread looking forward to suggesting Bryan Peterson's book only to find it already posted. :) Great book, wonderful photos that explain the concepts. The latest edition is on the order of $20, this this the best $20 I've ever spent on a photography book. I read the section on metering sunsets the other day and I'm probably forgetting half of it, but I believe he suggests metering the glowing orange area off to the side of the brightest spot. It might be worth trying this with a center-weighted setting, so the evaluative meter doesn't just meter off of the sun spot anyway. Depending on the mode you're in, you may need to lock your exposure before you recompose and shoot (if you're not fully manual).

I have yet to properly try his technique, can't wait though.

Justin

[Texas Sadie]

I found quite a few listings for the book on eBay.

http://search.ebay.com/Understanding...fkrZ1QQfromZR8

[heinecke]

Make sure you get the updated version. It covers digital whereas it's my understanding the older one is strictly for film. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


Glenn

[Justin]

Yeah the newest one does "cover" digital, but the stuff he's talking about, ie: aperature, shutter, light, metering, etc is pretty universal. So far it's really increased and reinforced my understanding of photography in general, but not necessarily much digitally speaking. In fact, I don't know if it's because it was late at night or what, but one of the first really digitally specific sidebars he talked about was totally incoherent to me, I don't know why.

J