Sunsets

M

mainstreet1997

Member
One thing that Florida gets that we dont get often here in Illinois is great sunsets. ; My Dad's point and shoot does a great job with sunsets but of course I want to use the full power of my Xti. So far, not much luck, the colors always turn out dull or muddy.

What kind of settings do you guys use?
 
Generally, Florida sunsets lend themselves well to almost any camera's basic settings - P mode will usually do fine - as long as you don't spot meter right on the sun, or right on a dark shadowed foreground in front of the sunset sky. ; A multi-or matrix-metering is usually right on. ; As for the camera settings...you may want to experiment with some form of 'vivid' color setting on your camera, or raising saturation +1...that is if you don't feel like working out more vibrant colors in post processing. ; I love sunsets - I've even got a whole gallery of them on my site, from around home, Disney, and from my cruises. ; They're addictive! ; And Disney's given me quite a few great ones, with all of my cameras including DSLR, advanced P&S, and the lowliest ultra-compacts.
 
Thanks Justin,

Ive been reading Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure and he says to spot meter above,below, or just to the side of the setting sun. Of course I played with his "Mr. Green Jeans" rule (-2/3 exposure when theres a lot of green in your shot) and Im not sure Im totally happy with what Im coming up with. Just need to practice I guess!
 
Another trick that you can use to enhance the colors when you are silhouetting everything except the sky is to set the camera's white balance to cloudy because it will add warmth to the colors which will enhance the oranges and reds. ; I did that on this sunrise:

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I did enhance the colors a little bit in post, so here's the original for comparison:

 
For sunsets I like to use matrix metering. I start at 0 EV comp. When the sunset is still bright, I find that I will use -1 EV a lot. Like MSummers said, I also like to play with the white balance settings, using cloudy or shade to accent the reds and oranges. Use Sunny setting to keep the blues and purple strong. ; Like Justin said, I also will be sure that the camera is set to a more saturated color setting as well.

Here is a sunset using sunny white balance and -1 ev:
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Here is another at -1EV and cloudy setting:
[attachimg=2]

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Well since we're sharing...here's my Sunrise/Sunset gallery:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/sunrise_sunset&page=all

And a few favorites:

My front yard:
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Somewhere in the Caribbean sea:
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Epcot:
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Industrial sunset, Ft. Lauderdale:
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Sun resting on sea:
89132862.jpg


Super crepuscular ray display, southern Caribbean:
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Big 5-photo panorama sunset in the Atlantic ocean:
original.jpg


Lots more in my gallery...I love sunsets, and sometimes need an intervention to stop me from photographing them.
 
Great shots Justin! ; I have found that the sunsets on the Caribbean Ocean are beautiful! ; Here are a few that I got when I was there on my first cruise in 2007.

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Ok, so this is a sunrise, but still as brilliant!
p840888841-4.jpg
 
Here are some that are a few years old & were taken with my old Sony 717 P&S. These are from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. I took these while offshore on one of the Offshore Supply Vessels I manage at work:





 
Which one? The second was in aperture priority mode, wide open, ISO 400. ; The eval meter did the rest. ; The first I did in program mode but with -1.33 metering.
 
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