Read an interview with me on CNN.com about taking better sunset photos.
Hammonassett State Park, Connecticut
How to Take Great Pictures of Sunsets and Sunrises
You can take great pictures of sunsets and sunrises with
any digital camera. The trick is finding an interesting foreground and
experimenting a bit with composition and exposure.
Think thin: Many sunsets and sunrises, such as this one, shot in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida, lend themselves better to a vertical format.
Gifts from the Sky
When I was in high school and beginning to get seriously
interested in photography I had a powerful hankering (as John Wayne
might say) to be out in the Wild West shooting scenic images of canyons
and deserts and cow pokes (whatever they were) minding the range.
Unfortunately, I was stuck in the 'burbs in Connecticut, and the
wildest scenery I had available was a nearby beach on Long Island Sound.
I soon discovered, however, that if I went to those beaches at the
right time of day--sunrise or sunset--they would be magically
transformed into splendid scenic settings. The wildness (or, in my
case, tameness) of the location simply didn't matter: A great sunset is
a dramatic and colorful event no matter where it occurs.
Over the years I've shot some great sunset photos in all sorts of
locations from the swamps of Florida to streets of Paris to the deserts
of Arizona and Utah (yes, I finally made it). And no matter how many
thousands of sunsets I've photographed, I've yet to tire of their
beauty.
Getting great sunset shots is relatively simple and if you miss a great
shot on one day, you'll get another chance the next. (By the way, I'm
not much of a morning person, so I'll use the word "sunset" here; you
can substitute "sunrise" if you are one of those people.)
Cypress Gardens, Florida at Sunset
A Frame to Hang Your Dream In
One of the great things about sunsets is that they are
inherently pretty; getting good pictures is largely a matter of (as
photographers often joke) "f/8 and being there." But while nature will
do a lot of the work for you by providing a colorful sky and nice
lighting, it's still up to you to provide an interesting framework in
which to display her handiwork.
A shot of a fiery sky all by itself isn't half as exciting as a
sailboat silhouetted in front of that sky. You need to provide the
viewer with something interesting to latch onto and preferably a
subject that thematically compliments the setting--a lone saguaro
cactus in the Arizona desert, for example. People, like the fisherman
on a breakwater (top) also make great foreground subjects. One of the
benefits of including people is that they provide an immediate sense of
scale, as well.
Because you're shooting into the sun and you want to expose to get a
dramatic sky (more on exposure in a minute), you're unlikely to retain
much foreground detail, so look for easy-to-read, bold objects to
silhouette. I've used palm trees on tropical beaches, a silo and barn
on a rural hilltop, and rocky outcroppings in the desert. Simple shapes
are perfect. I framed the scene at left using a clump of cypress trees
at Cypress Gardens in Florida. I was really attracted by the unusual
shapes of the trees for several hours and I found a good vantage point
facing west and just waited until the sun set.
Finding Your Place in the Sun
If you're at home and you know approximately where the
sun sets, life is a dream--just pack up your cameras an hour or so
before sunset and head out to an interesting location. But if you're in
a new and unfamiliar place, figuring out exactly where the sun will set
(relative to where you are) takes some planning.
Whenever I'm traveling, I carry a small pocket compass to tell me
roughly where the sun will hit the horizon. Knowing where "west" is
might seem like a pretty obvious bit of knowledge, but if you're lost
in the canyons of Manhattan for the first time, knowing that you should
be heading toward (or at least looking toward) the Hudson River (and
just where that is) might not occur to you. A compass will point you
there.
Don't be shy about asking locals for the best sunrise/sunset
locations.
I found Burnt Cove (at the bottom of the page) near
Stonington, Maine by asking the motel owner where the best place to
watch sunsets might be. He instantly said, "Oh, go over to Burnt Cove!"
It's one of my favorite shots and I would never
have found it on my own. It's an appropriately named place, don't you
think? In fact, I often scan maps for places like "Sunset Cove" or
"Sunrise Point" just to see if there's a local place that's famous for
its sky events.
Sunset over Long Island Sound
Saguaro Cactus at Sunset, Tuscon, Arizona
Sunset Reflection, Galilee, Rhode Island
Galilee, Rhode Island, Sunset & Fishing Masts
Exposure Variations
Getting a perfect exposure with a sunrise/sunset is
rarely critical because there are so many variations of good exposure
that will provide an acceptable image. If you underexpose the shot the
colors will be more saturated and if you overexpose slightly, they'll
have a more pastel appearance. I tend toward underexposure simply
because I like richer colors. Don't know if you should under- or
overexpose? BLH! (Bracket Like Heck--in other words, shoot a range from
under to overexposed images.)
Despite your exposure flexibility, you need to aim your camera
carefully when taking a light reading. Keep the sun itself out of the
frame, and point the lens just to the left or right of the sun. Use
your exposure lock feature to hold that exposure setting, then
re-compose and shoot.
Remember: With most digital cameras you can "lock" the exposure by just
pressing the shutter halfway down and then holding it there while you
recompose the scene. To take the photo, just continue to press the
shutter release all the way. This usually locks focus as well, but
since most sunset shots are focused at infinity, this simply won't
matter.
If you are using a digital SLR or a camera that has a manual exposure
setting or one that lets you manipulate exposure with an
exposure-compensation feature, you might want to play with some
exposure variations. I'll often use exposure compensation to add or
subtract one or two stops of light and manipulate exposure further
during editing.
Top Five Sunset Tips
Finally, here are my top five sunset shooting tips--and they work just
as well with point-and-shoot cameras as they do with SLRs.
* Don't forget to turn your back on
the sun. The glorious light that is filling the sky has a great effect
on the landscape behind you, too. Be sure to turn around and look.
* Be a storm chaser! The best sunrises and sunsets
follow rain and thunderstorms, so take a chance and drive to the beach
at the end of a stormy day. You may just get lucky.
* Don't automatically put the sun itself in the
center of the frame; very often you can enhance the image design by
putting it to the extreme left or right, or high or low in the frame.
* Mix up your shots with verticals and horizontals.
* Be sure to wait for the "afterglow" that comes
after the sun has slipped below the horizon. So often I see other
photographers packing up before the real show has begun.
