Beautiful sunsets

cellomaster27 said:
Wow!! No edits? I'm impressed! What settings do you use? Iso? shutter? ND filter? I have the hardest time with sunsets/sunrises.. Tips please!!

for me:
- full manual usually
- no filters
- lowest practical ISO based on focal length and shutter speed
- aperture for required DoF
- shutter speed to expose w-o clipping highlites (you may be over-exposing and losing color and detail if you relay on camera metering)

and it helps to find a location where you can actually get some vivid sunsets/rises!
dusty prairies are great, and the closer to the earth's poles you can get then the longer these events last.
In northern Alberta in summer, sunset colors like this can go on for an hour or so. Much of it after sunset.
 
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Aglet said:
cellomaster27 said:
Wow!! No edits? I'm impressed! What settings do you use? Iso? shutter? ND filter? I have the hardest time with sunsets/sunrises.. Tips please!!

for me:
- full manual usually
- no filters
- lowest practical ISO based on focal length and shutter speed
- aperture for required DoF
- shutter speed to expose w-o clipping highlites (you may be over-exposing and losing color and detail if you relay on camera metering)

and it helps to find a location where you can actually get some vivid sunsets/rises!
dusty prairies are great, and the closer to the earth's poles you can get then the longer these events last.
In northern Alberta in summer, sunset colors like this can go on for an hour or so. Much of it after sunset.

no ND filter?? wow. Because I always get either a really bright sky or dark dark landscape. :/ let me see then... 100 iso, f8-11, and around 1000 shutter? idk I guess i just need to practice more.. I live in Montana and only if I could take nice sunsets. Thank you!
 
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cellomaster27 said:
no ND filter?? wow. Because I always get either a really bright sky or dark dark landscape. :/ let me see then... 100 iso, f8-11, and around 1000 shutter? idk I guess i just need to practice more.. I live in Montana and only if I could take nice sunsets. Thank you!

nope, no ND filters on my shots
if you're referring to a graduated ND filter, those can be really useful at times but I don't use them either.
If I have to, I'll pull an ND grad effect in Post (Lightroom does this nicely if needed).
Sometimes you may need to do an NDG filter, sometimes not.
In my examples above it's just a straight shot as is.
I usually start at 100 iso, 1/500 and f/8 (sunny 16) and adjust as required for the conditions.

MO should have some great sunsets! I used to travel I15 every fall years ago and those dusty skies were sometimes full of color. Good luck! :)
 
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9469818841_8e9ebe3f1e_z.jpg


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technically not a sunset, as it is the midnight sun, so it won't set...
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/trondstromme/
 
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Aglet said:
cellomaster27 said:
no ND filter?? wow. Because I always get either a really bright sky or dark dark landscape. :/ let me see then... 100 iso, f8-11, and around 1000 shutter? idk I guess i just need to practice more.. I live in Montana and only if I could take nice sunsets. Thank you!

nope, no ND filters on my shots
if you're referring to a graduated ND filter, those can be really useful at times but I don't use them either.
If I have to, I'll pull an ND grad effect in Post (Lightroom does this nicely if needed).
Sometimes you may need to do an NDG filter, sometimes not.
In my examples above it's just a straight shot as is.
I usually start at 100 iso, 1/500 and f/8 (sunny 16) and adjust as required for the conditions.

MO should have some great sunsets! I used to travel I15 every fall years ago and those dusty skies were sometimes full of color. Good luck! :)

+1 Thank you! Think that helps! -writes in photo notes-
 
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I nearly always use grads, with a few older ones using HDR. I was using a reverse grad from Singh Ray, until Upgraded to the Lee system and it no longer fit, so I had to make do with conventional grads. Yesterday, my new reverse grad arrived, so I can start playing again. Settings vary, but generally, because of the type of terrain I tend to shoot, I'm looking at maximum DoF, so typically around f/16 on full frame, f/22 at a push or f/11 or sometimes wider, if I can get away with it. I have also deliberately reduced shutter speed for effect sometimes, either with a polarise, solid ND or lowering the ISO to 50.
 
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