Here are some thoughts on sunsets.
For there to be any detail in the foreground you actually have to have LIGHT hitting it. Without any ambient or direct light hitting the foreground all you will see are the point light sources from automobiles, buildings, streetlamps, etc...
The problem with shooting into the sun is that you are essentially shooting an object that is back-lit. Back-lit objects, by nature, don't have much light landing on the face of them. Unless there is a secondary light source or a way to reflect light back into the scene, you are only going to be underexposing the foreground.
Personally I am not a fan of sunset pictures. In fact, I won't let my students turn them in for assignments. I even go so far as to put it on a list of objects they shouldn't consider shooting for my classes.
If there is not a story to be told, and it's just a 'pretty sunset' then just enjoy the sunset. If there is a story to be told, and it just so happens to be when the sun is going down, then figure out a way to show that story and not have it just be about the 'sunset'.
Sunsets are for enjoying. Stories when the sun is going down are worth telling. Rarely do they happen at the same time. When they do, it is usually an extraordinary event that is worth photographing.
There are a few ways that you can cheat the difference in exposure between the sky and the foreground. There are a few on the board that have really learned how to use and perfected the use of Graduated Neutral Density filters. They can come in all varieties of flavors, and I would defer to Lost Canadian on the ones to get. I have never owned one, nor used one, so I wouldn't be able to tell you what to do or what to buy.
The way that I usually choose to deal with the extreme dynamic range found at sunset is to manipulate the exposure and development of the B&W film I am using. I can also control it with the various printing techniques and mediums that are available.
Occasionally I will be shooting digital and want to tell a story. One opportunity arose last night while driving from Salt Lake to Logan.
I am doing a project on the Great Salt Lake, and I have wanted to take a photograph along this stretch of road for many years. Usually I drive along this road when I am alone and have plenty of time. I have not been able to find the right conditions where I have wanted to stop and photograph very often. I have made a few shots there over the past few years, but nothing that I wanted to include in my project.
Yesterday, while we were running VERY late, and I had my car full of family and dog...the light was sweet.
So, I stopped and shot three separate times, each time making us even later for Christmas Dinner at my mothers house.
Basically I formed a hierarchy of importance. Here's how it broke down yesterday:
1. Photography during sweet light
2. Keeping my wife happy
3. Coke with ice from gas station (part of keeping wife happy)
4. Suffering mother's wrath at being late for Christmas Dinner
5. Keeping my kids/dog happy
In this shot I hurried and made several exposures trying to find the 'sweet spot' between the highlights of the sun/clouds and the foregroud. Once I found that exposure I made a three-shot panorama and stitched it later.
In post-production I adjusted the white-balance and actually found I wanted to *increase* contrast. That is counter-intuitive to trying to increase dynamic range.
The only 'trickery' I did to the image was to add a very slight gradient to the sky that ended just below the line of the water. No HDR, no bracketing, no Tom-Foolery on this one. It really is basically as I saw it, straight out of the camera. There is a 'glitch in the stitch' that I will have to go back and re-process the image.
Yes, I had to make sure that I found just the right exposure, and yes the light was super-diffused. But remember, this is an image that I have envisioned in my mind for several years and finally was able to make it last night.
It might not be the most spectacular image ever, but to me it conveys a sense of place and feels quiet, the way that the scene felt when I photographed it.
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