Any tips on sunsets?

[ab2012]

Thought I'd go out this lovely evening and try some sun going down photos. 50D and standard lens. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 34016]

tripod is a good idea

Les

 

[ab2012]

No tripod as yet, Les

 

[Nikonite]

Expose for the sky. I think i read that in Bryan Peterson's book....best check!

 

[Darthchaffinch]

be prepared for lots of nosey dogs...!

 

[Al Brum]

Always take them at the end of the day! Lol

 

[markmullen]

Without filters having the sun in the shot is very difficult, you'll either end up blowing the sky out or if you expose for the sky the foreground will be completely blocked out black. If you wait till the sun has dropped over the horizon you'll often find the most vivid colours, similarly at sunrise before the sun actually appears.

If you want to get into filters I find the most useful one I have is a 3 stop reverse ND grad.

 

[tezmed]

tripod is a must..... use shutter priority or manual and try for as long exposure as possible- maybe even use a sunset filter with a nd filter behind (cokin do comparitively cheap nd filters etc- and theres places out the on ebay that sell imitations even cheaper)

 

[HMansfield]

It depends on the sunset really. Is it a cloudless sky, with a graduation of colours going from the horizon to the sky? Is it one with bands of whispy clouds, adding stripes of grey across the colours? Are the clouds reflecting the colours?

No two sunsets are the same, and no two sunsets benefit from the same approach. Try underexposing a bit to get stronger colours, and cycle through the different white balance settings to see which works best.

 

[Just Dave]

If youve no tripod, rest your camera on something and use, timed release, Id try get some foreground interest,

 

[ab2012]

Thanks for the latest helpful responses.Not as easy as I thought.Need to get a decent tripod plus filters.Need also to understand more the use of filters and the different kinds.
Thanks

 

[StewartR]

tripod is a must.....

Not true. No tripods here.