Shooting Into The Sun/Low Sun

Steven001

Steven001

Messages
1,531
Name
Steven
Edit My Images
Yes
Good evening!

I'm just after some tips or guidance when shooting into the sun or with a low sun. For example: A nice landscape shot where the sun is starting to set. Is it possible to get a result where everything is exposed correctly? I could expose for the sky, which usually leave the foreground underexposed and vice-versa.

Thanks,
Steven
 
Use a graduated neutral density filter to darken down the sky.
Something like the Lee or Cokin style filter system will allow you to choose a 1, 2 or 3 stop (or more) grad, which you can slide up and down in the frame, and rotate it too (in case the horizon isn't horizontal).
 
forgot to add... you could just meter for somewhere in between and then lighten the ground & darken the sky in photoshop, but using ND grads on the camera will enable more detail to be kept in the sky.
If you use the photoshop grad method you might find that the sky highlights are blown and the detail is lost.
 
alternatively stick it on a tripod and take a range of exposures, blend together the ones you think work best.
 
Same as Matt, search for High Dynamic Range or HDR. :thumbs:

You'll need some software to combine the exposures.

Take three or more exposures of the scene, each one covering a different brightness, working back from the bright sky into the darker areas for example. Its up to you how much and many.

Combining different exposures with hdr software will provide an image with an extended dynamic range greater than just the one exposure and can allow you to record both he bright and the dark areas in one photo.

Its a bit of a steep learning curve at first, processing such an image can be tricky and making it attractive is another hurdle, some hdrs can look a bit errr ...different! (horrid)
 
get the sun behind something to cut its power down
then you get some chance of picking up some other detail...
the sun is for mood and atmosphere..not astronomical photography
sunrise is worth going for
 
GND for sure. and even with GND filters, if the sun is in your shot, part of the sky will still be overexposed but at least it will be less significant, and easier to fix.
 
It's worth noting that you don't actually need to buy into a whole filter system. Scott Kelby mentions in one of his books that he just has one ND grad filter which he hand-holds in front of the lens. A simple solution, just buy a filter and keep it in your bag, it will save a lot of time on the computer later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top