Where is it best to meter for sunrise and sunsets?

Question

I can never get nice silhouettes and appropriate exposures for sunrise and sunset. How should I meter for this?

Asked by Noel M

Answer

Its near impossible to balance the foreground and the horizon/ambient when shooting into the sun without lighting modifiers, so you have to pick a target.

If your target is to expose the sunset correctly, then expose for the sky - a non-white, non sun patch close to your composition, and recompose using those settings.

If your target is to expose the foreground correctly, well, thats easy, expose the foreground as normal :)

If your target is to create a silhouette in the foreground, then you might try exposing for the sky, taking a test shot, and using your view/histogram controls to ensure you have a large chunk of black in the photo (tall peak on the left side). Alternatively, you could set your exposure points to center point, expose on the foreground silhouette, then close down the shutter until your light meter is buried, -2 or better.

Answered by reuscam

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Does this sunrise photograph have a problem with white balance?

Question

I find this scene "all" "Orangey". The trees are also looking a kind Orangey.
Is the colour balance wrong? Or it is normal for a sunrise scene?

http://1x.com/forum/bookmarked/32030/critique-on-photo-september#

Asked by Anisha Kaul

Answer

White balance is all relative. Light (natural or artificial) varies in colour and your eyes are used to adjusting it. It's amazing how an image can seem fine until you see another image with a different white balance and it suddenly looks wrong. Even the background colour of the page holding the image or frame can influence how colour balance is perceived.

With this is mind there is no correct white balance. The only sense in which the white balance can be "wrong" is relative to the intent of the image. If you intend to create to invoke the feelings of a warm sunny day and your image has a strong blue cast then it is probably that a mistake has been made.

With reference to the image you posted, it is not a documentary photograph but an impressionistic depiction of the scene. In my opinion the colour balance is in keeping with the style and content of the image.

Answered by Matt Grum

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Is ND400 insufficient for some sun moments?

Question

I've taken a shot of the sun using my Tamron 70-300 (at 300) on my Nikon D5000 at 1/4000 and F40 and had attached the ND400 filter.

The shot was taken mostly to test the filter so I ignored the dirty window through which I shot.

However I was surprised to find out that even with all the controls turned to minimum luminosity and having the filter installed the sun was too bright. Maybe the time of day (local time around 09:00 AM, today, November 29th) was inappropriate for taking such pictures?

Or maybe the filter is not enough?

Answer

The pixels are not overexposed in any channel, and applying a heavy curve will reveal the darker edges and some dark spots. What you have is an exposed-to-the-right image of how the sun looks like - it is a big shiny ball. IMHO you should have enough data in RAW to tweak this into a usable image.

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How do you make the most stunning sunrise and sunset photos?

Question

I've been lucky on a few occasions, but I often struggle with capturing awesome sunsets. What can I do to remove the element of luck and get more consistent results?

Additionally, is it possible to tell if a sunset set is going to be particularly striking far enough in advance to plan to get to an awesome location in time?

Answer

I've done well with the exposure rules from "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.

Basically, use manual exposure. You probably want everything in focus, so a high f/stop number (ie small aperture) will help you achieve that. That may mean you need a long-ish exposure, so a tripod would help (and will be essential if you want to use HDR techniques).

To set the exposure, choose spot metering mode, point the camera up at the sky, and set the aperture and time so that the sky is correctly exposed. Then recompose and take the photo. Review the picture and adjust the exposure if it is too dark or light for the effect you want. This photo was exposed for the sky:

Alternatively, if there is a lot of water in the picture you may want to expose for that. Water will be darker than the sky, even with the reflected sunlight. So do the same as above, but point the camera at the water to set the exposure. This photo was exposed for the water in the foreground:

Which you prefer is up to personal preference and the objects you have to work with in the composition. On the non-exposure parts, I've nothing to add to what the others answers say.

Edit: I've decided there is one more thing to say. The light can change very fast, so if it looks beautiful take a picture now. Then recompose and take another, or play around with your metering and take another. Or wait a bit and see how the light develops. But only after you've got at least one shot of it - the light can go from stunning to boring in 30 seconds or less sometimes, so it's better to end up with a shot of the beautiful light caught in an OK way than a technically perfect shot after the light has died.

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This doesn't seem very sharp…is this normal?

Question

Body: T2i Lens: Kit, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6

I went to shoot a sunrise this morning at the beach and got some great pictures, but when I uploaded them to some light post-processing, I was slightly surprised by how unsharp it was, and the amount of noise there was when I zoomed in. Is this normal for this camera/lens? My settings for the photo attached were 1/25, f4.0, ISO 100, and focus was set on the chair. My assumption is that it has something to do with the amount of available light, but I've seen plenty of sunrise/sunset pictures that are almost impossibly sharp.

Full-size

Answer

The Canon EF-S 18-55mm Kit lens is not the sharpest lens known, not if you're judging the pic at 100%. But when you're using smaller version of the image, sharpness is acceptable. Your example image looks sharp enough to me in this size, for a kit lens, its a good result.

Now, the noise. Its a very complicated term. It depends on a lot of things, one of them is wavelength of the light, or you can say color of the light. Blue channel is the noisiest channel and green is the least. Your sky is mostly blue and looks like that's the cause of the noise you're seeing.

You did not mention if you shoot raw or jpeg. jpeg images converted from raw provides better sharpness comparing to in camera jpeg. Also, T2i has a very powerful sensor, it's image quality increases a lot more when you use it with a superior lens. So, if you're not happy with it, try getting a lens known for its sharpness (rent for a day or ask a friend), shoot with it and check if it makes you happy or not.

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