Sunset Pictures

[rocknRev4Christ]

I saw the sun setting yesterday and a thought had occurred to me. How does one take a picture of such a beautiful thing? I know on my camera (not an SLR btw) if I were to allow the sun shine into the lens, I would get flare and in time, ruin the lens. I have seen pictures of sunsets so I know its possible. Being a noob, I'm asking, how is it done? What would I need to use to keep flare from happening and get some great shots of sunsets?

[Krusty79]

If you had an SLR, your options include a graduated neutral density filter, bracketing your shots and HDR. Since you have a point and shoot, your options are limited. Cokin does make filters and filter holders that work on P&S cameras, but the tradeoff is that they mount to your tripod socket and sunset is when you want to use your tripod. You could buy a rectangular graduated ND filter and just hold it in front of the lens like I do with my SLR.

If you have a tripod, you could try to bracket your shots on your P&S using the ISO setting to under/overexpose some shots and try to blend the exposures in PP later.

I usually try to take shots when the sun is behind some clouds and adding color to them. That eliminates the flare. Even with my 2 stop graduated ND filter, I'm still constantly battling blown-out skies or dark foregrounds. I am learning how to do exposure blending to overcome that.

[rocknRev4Christ]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

If you had an SLR, your options include a graduated neutral density filter, bracketing your shots and HDR. Since you have a point and shoot, your options are limited. Cokin does make filters and filter holders that work on P&S cameras, but the tradeoff is that they mount to your tripod socket and sunset is when you want to use your tripod. You could buy a rectangular graduated ND filter and just hold it in front of the lens like I do with my SLR.

If you have a tripod, you could try to bracket your shots on your P&S using the ISO setting to under/overexpose some shots and try to blend the exposures in PP later.

I usually try to take shots when the sun is behind some clouds and adding color to them. That eliminates the flare. Even with my 2 stop graduated ND filter, I'm still constantly battling blown-out skies or dark foregrounds. I am learning how to do exposure blending to overcome that.

I have a point and shoot for now. I plan on getting myself an SLR camera sometime. I was just contemplating sunset shots recently. I also do have a tripod too.

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Originally Posted by rocknRev4Christ

.... I know on my camera (not an SLR btw) if I were to allow the sun shine into the lens, I would get flare and in time, ruin the lens.......

Really? Like how many times? SLR & P&S? Not that I've done too many.......

[ElCapitan]

When you say sunset, how high is the sun? When I think sunset, the sun is so low that I can shoot right at it and not have any problem with flare. Examples would be All sizes | IMG_4511 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! and All sizes | Grandfather Mountain 006 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

Granted there are times where the sun will be higher and offer great colors, but in these instances, you want to keep the sun either out of the frame completely, behind clouds, or at the very least, in a very small portion of the frame.

For me, it is the clouds that really help make a sunset great. They change colors and can reflect colors that wouldn't be there without them. If you have good clouds, you shouldn't have to worry about the sun.

[mrmikes5]

I'm with El Cap..
A sunset or sunrise isn't going to be that bright. If your "sun" is very bright then IMO, it's more of a pre-sunet or post sunrise. I have taken many sunset/rise photos without any flaring or damage to my DSLRs or my P&Ss. But then again, what are we calling a sunset? Here are two of my sunrise photos, from different days (different times of the year really). The red one is summer and the second is early spring.

[navcom]

FWIW...I've taken sunrises, sunsets, and all-around shots of the sun for over 20 years and have never damaged a camera or lens. The biggest danger is to your eyes looking through the viewfinder but only when the sun is high in the sky and then only if you continuously stare at it. As the others have said, when the sun is low on the horizon, it's not as intense as it is say an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset.