Sunset Photography Tips

A day or two before you shoot get out and locate interesting places that might be conducive to producing great sunset or sunrise photos. Elements to consider are the sun's track and foreground objects that can produce silhouettes and/or reflections. Get to your designated site early; sunsets only take half an hour or so, so you want to think about these elements before they start. Find out when the sun will set or rise. It is a good idea to get there at least a half an hour beforehand. As you know when the sun is low in the horizon, it sets quickly and rises fast. Remember, the time the sun appears or disappears is when the show will truly begin.

There are a variety of different types of sunsets that produce a range of different color patterns in the sky. Although clear days can make for great shots, it's usually the times where there are clouds around that the real light show begins. So keep an eye on the weather forecast. Also, be aware of days when there is dust or smoke in the air, as they can produce amazing results as well.
Spontaneous sunset or sunrise shots can produce wonderful results. Keep in mind though that planning your shoot can produce even better results.

GEAR
Don't forget the equipment you will want to take along, including camera lenses that provide a wide range of focal lengths, filters, memory cards, extra camera batteries and of course, a tripod.

FOCAL POINTS
A wide angle can create sweeping landscape shots, but if you want the sun to be featured in the shot, you'll want to be able to zoom in on it. The sun is just a half a degree or so across visually; therefore, shooting with a wide angle lens will take up a very small portion of the photograph. You will need to zoom in on the sun if you want to feature it in your shot by using a 200mm lens or higher.

STABILITY
As referenced in my Psychology of Photography lens, using a, tripod ensures that your camera is completely still. This is essential when using a 200mm lens and larger. Don't forget to turn off the anti- shake feature.

WARNING
Caution should always be taken when photographing the sun. Looking at it with the naked eye can be dangerous, but looking through a camera lens increases that danger. To avoid damage to your camera and more importantly, your eyes, make sure the sun is not too high in the sky.

RULES
Use the rule of thirds when photographing sunrises and sunsets. While you can always break the rule, it's often a good idea to place elements like the horizon, sun, silhouettes, reflections, etc. off center.

SILHOUETTES
Silhouettes can add mood and context to a sunset or sunrise shot. Sunset and sunrise photos like all photos need points of interest and one way to do this is by incorporating some type of silhouette into the shot. Examples of silhouettes can consist of many things including mountains, trees, buildings or even people. The possibilities are endless so use your imagination.

REFLECTIONS
Another element I love to add to a sunset or sunrise picture is reflections. Reflections can be generated from a river, lake, pond, the ocean, buildings or even a puddle. So when planning your shots, don't forget this element, it can really add to the image producing spectacular results.

EXPOSURE
The thing I like the most about photographing sunsets and sunrises is you can get a wide variety of amazing results by simply changing the aperture and shutter speed settings. Very often when shooting sunsets and sunrises, the shot will appear under exposed if you let the camera decide the exposure. This is due to the fact that there still is a reasonable amount of light in the sky during these times.
For this reason it is a good idea to switch your camera to aperture or shutter priority mode and take a variety of shots at different exposures. The key here is to experiment and have fun with it.

BRACKETS
Another technique I quite often use not just with sunsets and sunrise photography but with other landscape ops is bracketing. Bracketing is where you take a few shots at both under and over the camera's suggested exposure setting. A good example of bracketing is when your camera indicates that the exposure should be a 1/40 of a second at f/4, you then will shoot at 1/40 at f/2.8 and then again at f/5.6. This will give you a series of shots with different exposures producing slightly different results. Most digital cameras have a built-in bracketing feature. Refer to your camera's manual on how to use this feature. You will be amazed at the results it produces.

EXPOSURE LOCK
If your camera does not have a bracketing mode but has an exposure lock feature, the exposure lock feature can be used to generate variation in exposure. Just point your camera in a darker place and lock in the exposure for that shot and then reframe looking at the sunset or sunrise and take the shot. This will give you a more over-exposed shot.

BALANCE
Shooting sunsets and sunrises in auto white balance mode could result in losing the warm golden tones produced by the sunset and sunrise. So, vary your white balance modes; try cloudy or shady WB mode. Depending if you want a warmer or cooler moods you can experiment with other white balance settings.

ABOUTFACE
Another thing I like to do is turn around and observe the sky and objects 180° from the sun. If there are clouds or mountains present, this could produce some great pictures. The great thing about shooting sunsets late in the day is the soft golden light and shadows that are produced. These things make for great images.

FOCUS
Keep in mind that some cameras have trouble auto focusing in extreme lighting conditions. To ensure a sharp image you might want to switch to manual focus mode.

SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT
As mentioned earlier sunsets or sunrises constantly change over time and can produce great colors well after the sun goes down or appears on the horizon, so keep shooting at different exposures and focal lengths. To make sure you take full advantage of the photo op, get there early and stay late.

VERY IMPORTANT
The most important tip I can provide is; have fun & enjoy the experience.

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