The best settings for sunset photography
The problem with sunset photography
Have you taken a disappointing sunset photo?
This is what you think you saw:
This is what the camera gives you:
The problem with sunsets is dynamic range. The eye can see a wider range of tones than the camera: so the eye can pick out detail in highlights and shadows that the camera will just render as pure white or pure black, and everything in between can go a bit muddy if you stay on auto exposure (which includes aperture or shutter priority modes).
Expose for the shadows?
The problem of dynamic range means you have to choose: expose the shadows with detail, or expose the highlights with detail?
In the following photos the first one is exposed for the shadows, but you've lost the detail in the lighter coloured areas. The second one is exposed for the lighter clouds but the shadows are now too dark. The third photo is the compromise (shooting RAW and bringing out detail as much as possible – see below).
This is a screengrab of the tonal adjustments I made in Lightroom to achieve the compromise shot (only possible because I shot in RAW so there was still plenty of hidden information in the shadows to draw out)
Shooting on auto modes
If you are shooting on any auto-exposure mode (including aperture or shutter priority mode) then it’s very unlikely your camera will pick an exposure that will let you optimally process the shot afterwards. Because of all the very bright highlights the camera is often fooled into under exposing sunset shots. The only way to get the shot you want is to take control.
If you want to shoot on an auto-exposure mode:
Decide if you want to expose for the shadows or the highlights.
Spot meter from something that is about 18% grey (choose a lightish grey cloud) and adjust your exposure for your preference.
If you are happy to shoot in manual mode:
Make sure your histogram is turned on.
Decide if you want to expose for the shadows or highlights, and then adjust your exposure so the histogram reflects your preference.
In both cases shoot RAW and be prepared to bring out additional hidden information in processing.
The HDR merge option
To bring even more information into your digital file than is available in a RAW file you can combine 3 shots into one (beware these shots can look very artificial – look at Trey Ratcliffe's overblown style to see what I mean):
Put the camera on a tripod and take 3 bracketed shots (one under, one over and one in the middle, exposure-wise).
Use Photo > Photo Merge > HDR in Lightroom, or similar in other programs, and the software will pick out the detail from each shot and combine to give you a wider dynamic range.
Join my free beginner’s course
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