Sunset too dark?

[kfildes]

Canon Rebel T1i
SS 1/20
AV 14
ISO 100
Focal Length 109.0mm

This images lacks the "punch" I actually saw with my own eyes. Where did I go wrong? The shutter speed?

[navcom]

Without some external help, sunsets are very hard to get exposed properly. Either the foreground is too dark in order to get the sun and the colors in the sky proper or the sun/sky is blown out in order to get the foreground exposed properly. This is due to the huge dynamic range inherent in a sunset.

Dynamic range is the range between the darkest and brightest spots in an image. With a sunset, that range is huge. Your eyes can see about 20 stops of light while your camera can only record about 9 stops. This means the camera needs to pick which end of the range to expose properly. The result is never ideal....without help.

That help usually comes in two forms. First, the use of a graduated neutral density filter. This is a rectangular filter that is half clear and half shaded with a feathered transition zone in the middle. You attache the filter and it's holder to your lens and place the shaded area over the bright subject (sky/sun) and the clear area over the darker subjects (foreground in this case). The shaded area "pushes back" the intensity of the sun/sky thus reducing the dynamic range to something the camera can record.

The second option is to take several images...say 3. One with the sky/sun exposed properly, one with the foreground exposed properly, and one with something inbetween. Then you combine the three images using Photoshop or software such as Photomatix to create an image with a wider dynamic range. This is commonly referred to as the "HDR technique".

Both techniques can work well. The filter usually provides a more natural color feel and is the best option for getting the best quality and color saturation. It's drawback is that it doesn't always work if there is not a relatively straight horizon (mountains, etc.) for which the transition zone will become obvious in the image. With the HDR technique, that is not a problem, but HDR can sometimes create image quality problems because you are modifying pixels after they are recorded which leads to some amount of degredation or skewing. HDR can also easily be overdone to the point where it looks more like a cartoon than a natural landscape. This is due to the fact that it's actually too much dynamic range which is reducing all shadows.

Hope that helps some!