Sunset Photography

Sunsets, we all shoot them from time to time don’t we? But we sometimes wonder why. Could it be the palette of beautiful color hues and how the light plays off the clouds? Is it the sun itself as it slowly drops below the horizon? Or is it just one of those things we fell compelled to do when we see them? Whatever the reason, often we are less than pleased with the results when we get our photos back from the lab or download them into our computers. Sometimes we just get caught up i n the vivid colors, the lighting or whatever and seem to forget a few of the rules of composition.

Yes, I know most of us do not like rules that tell us how to do things, but in photography some of these rules of composition work for me 90% of the time. Maybe we sometimes just need to be reminded to slow down and not just point and shoot. Perhaps think about how to best capture this magnificent sunset and maybe even plan ahead to arrive a bit early to scout out the area.

Think about how many different ways you can capture this one moment of color and not just grab one or two quick shots and leave. I know most of us know, or are at least aware, of some of these compositional rules: such as the rule of thirds for the horizon line. But some of us forget another basic rule or rather a compositional makeup of the image.

For my compositions these are: foreground, middle ground or sometimes the main subject (s) and the background, which in the case of sunsets is the horizon and the sunset itself if present. I call this the FMB elements. The sun often is used as the focal point and I also try to include a few images with it in the composition, but I see so many people leave right after the sun drops over the horizon. But folks, this is just the beginning of the fantastic light show that is about to happen. This sundown period is what I call the afterglow, and the colors are just beginning to get real. I will continue to shoot at least 30 minutes after the sun is gone.

Planning the image is what I enjoy the most about sunsets. I try to arrive at the location at least 30 minutes before sunset and look for the three key elements of FMB well before I begin to shoot. Let me first explain a little about FMB. Foreground elements, which I fell are most important in my images, sets the viewers initial perception of the image that I’m trying to capture and convey.

These elements can be simply a shoreline or beach at an angle, rocks jetting out into the water from the shoreline during a low tide, mangrove trees and their pop roots, old pilings, logs or shoreline tree stumps. Any of these elements if kept reasonable small in comparison to the overall composition will add that extra bit of interest to the image. But sometimes I even break my own rules and get real close to foreground elements.

Explore all of the possibilities is my philosophy. All of these foreground elements will of course be mostly in total silhouette that is unless you get a bit closer to them and fire off some fill flash just to add a bit of detail. Middle ground can be many things such as an old derelict boat, old fishing pier or just the remnants of a pier, a sailboat or even the inclusion of some flying birds. The background is of course the sunset with or without interesting clouds.

Have you ever gone to shoot a nice sunset and the sky turned out to be totally cloudless, yet the sunset colors in the sky were just fantastic? Well, this is where a little scouting pays off, as you can find some trees with overhanging branches to take up some of the space of the bare sky. It does not have to completely cover up the upper part of the sky, just enough to break up the vastness. The addition of flying birds really makes for interesting sunsets, especially those around beaches or harbor scenes.

Waiting for these birds to fly directly in the position you want them in, at the time you need them is a daunting exercise in self patience, which most of us lack or at least me. One can only wait so long before the entire sunset is over trying to wait out birds.

Since I like to, as I call it, “make images”, that is to add or subtract those elements that I consider to be important to the overall composition, I will make some images knowing that I will later add in some elements to strengthen the composition or even remove some when all else fails. I have folders with all kinds of “add in’s” from flying birds to old boats, wagons, trucks, etc. even animals. All of these were cut out of other images and placed and saved onto a transparent layer. Once I know which element I want to use I just open it along side of the sunset image and then drag it onto the sunset image and resize it to fit the scale.

Now I know most people will draw the line to when it comes to getting their feet wet, but I have been know to do a little wading when necessary to position myself for the best compositions. Ten of the images shown here were made in just that manner, some a bit deeper than I had originally planned. Image nine, from the top, was made in about three foot of water, but I liked that composition at lot and did what was necessary to get the image.

I always have my wading boots on the ready, especially during low tides. The added shoreline silhouettes during this time I think are more pleasing. Hopefully I have given you some helpful tips on making beautiful stunning sunset images. All of these images were made on Charlotte Harbor and many of what I have shown here has added elements incorporated into them.

I hope that some of these images will entice you to go out and make some really great sunsets images of you own to hang on your walls or to give as gifts. Sunset images are always pleasing to look at time and time again. Remember, there are really no bad sunsets; some are just better than others. Enjoy, Michael

Nature’s Water Images in Veiled Slow Motion

Film based landscape photographers took advantage of slow films and filters to make powerful compositions of waterfalls and streamside images, capturing the moving water that had that veiled appearance of water moving in slow motion. Today the modern digital photographer can make these same, but often overlooked images with that same dramatic effect. Pro consumer cameras and pro digital SLR cameras generally have shutter speeds slow enough to capture these types of images, given the right shooting conditions.

Generally speaking these flowing veiled water scenes will have better impact when made with very soft diffused lighting. Bright, full sun shooting conditions will create a much harsher composition and requires the use of higher shutter speeds. This is counter- productive to creating that softness and capturing the water movement with the veiled appearance, because a very slow shutter speed is require for this technique. You need slow shutter speeds down to around ¼ second to several seconds depending on several factors on how you want to create the image. Depth of field is one major factor in the overall composition. If the water scene is in a landscape composition and requires great DOF, then apertures of f 8 to f 22 are required to cover the near foreground to far background to ensure complete sharpness in the image. If your shooting detailed studies, and require the background to be rendered out of focus, then larger apertures are needed. As you can see from these two aperture extremes the required shutter speeds for ISO settings of 100 will vary greatly from slow to fast. Since very slow/long shutter speeds are required for the veiled effect, then the use of filters is required to maintain these suggested shutter slower speeds.

The use of neutral density filters, in the range of one stop to two stops of light reduction, either used singly or in combination, as well as a polarizing filter will effectively slow down the camera’s shutter speeds to capture a wide variety of moving water affects. The polarizing filter may however remove water reflections that you might want to consider as part of the overall composition of the image. I have three ND filters, two in a single one-stop reduction and one in a two-stop reduction of light entering the camera. With these three filters, I can affect a wide variety of water motion as I will make many different exposures of the same composition and later choose which exposure is what I’m looking for. It’s a bit difficult to tell right away, even with digital preview/playback, just how well you captured what you wanted.

 Obviously with these extreme slow shutter speeds the use of a good sturdy tripod is vital to obtaining good sharp images. If your compositions require that the tripod be placed in the fast moving water, then a heavier duty tripod is in order. Vibrations from the water movement against the tripod will cause minute movement resulting in unsharp images.

I would also suggest that if your camera allows the use of a cable shutter release, by all means use it or use the camera’s self timer release to trigger the exposure.

Waterfall and streamside composition possibilities are endless. Multiple waterfalls are often more dramatic than just a single. Perhaps finding a composition whereby there is a larger waterfall in the near foreground with a smaller waterfall in the background, or the opposite will be most rewarding. Multiple cascading smaller streambed falls composed diagonally across the viewfinder are always pleasing images. Just remember to shoot several shots of each setup varying the exposure from ¼ second to up to 2 seconds for a better selection of the final image. 

Many streamside and waterfall images often lend themselves to B&W conversion of the color image. Most all of my past large format B&W images of Old Florida scenics looked better when I sepia toned them. This was a very tedious and time consuming wet darkroom process that I modified for the particular color gradation that I wanted to convey. I have now explored various methods of duplicating that sepia toned appearance of those large 30x40 images. Just one of the many wonders of digital photography and the desktop darkroom that I have come to enjoy over the last 10 years.