GrapevineLake Sunset

[Blitz]

Hey Guys, I am a relatively new photographer and I just took a picture of my first sunset at Lake near my house. Let me know how I did and what I can do to improve!
Thanks.

Photo Info:
Canon Rebel T2i
f/22
1/500
Exposure Bias: -.67
ISO 800




[Grapevine Sunset | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[wrdgirl]

I think it's a pretty awesome shot! The color is crisp and I really like the "shine" on the water.

I don't know if there is any way you can bring out more of the underexposed areas? However I'm not one to critique since this is a type of photo I am trying to achieve

[Hill Country Hack]

Nice color in the shot.

Let's look at some of the basics.
1. You selected at relatively high ISO, adding digital noise, making the sensor more sensative to light and then added a negative exposure compensation.
2. You may be better served adjusting your horizon to the bottom third of the frame since the dark foreground isn't adding to the picture.
3. At f22 you are adding defraction into the image. The high f stop can make a star effect which can be nice. Traditionally landscapes are shot at f8-11 and consider using hyperfocal distance.

For me, the water tower and the lights in the left of the frame can and should go.
Please take this information and learn from it to improve.

[vainqueur]

Interestingly, this is the 3rd reply I have done today with recommending people to use GND, haha...

You want to try using a GND? Bring in a bit more light into the foreground. It might give it a nice orangy warm look to the foreground.

[baajero]

It's a beautiful picture... but as hill country hack mentioned... your settings don't make much sense. you want to try and use the lowest ISO possible to retain as much color as you can. so drop the the ISO, get rid of the exposure compensation, drop the aperture to 11 and use a tripod if the exposure times get long and you are worried about shake.
GND filter would be nice... but I guess I have a question... The only ones I found cost a 100 bucks... how much did you guys pay for your GND filters... is that the usual price for them?

[TBrown00]

Originally Posted by baajero

GND filter would be nice... but I guess I have a question... The only ones I found cost a 100 bucks... how much did you guys pay for your GND filters... is that the usual price for them?

Mine was about $60. Get one of the rectangular ones and hold it in front of your camera. This will allow you to adjust for where you've placed the horizon line within your frame.

[Blitz]

Thanks for the input! I'll definitely keep these pointers in mind next time.

[Blitz]

Originally Posted by baajero

It's a beautiful picture... but as hill country hack mentioned... your settings don't make much sense. you want to try and use the lowest ISO possible to retain as much color as you can. so drop the the ISO, get rid of the exposure compensation, drop the aperture to 11 and use a tripod if the exposure times get long and you are worried about shake.
GND filter would be nice... but I guess I have a question... The only ones I found cost a 100 bucks... how much did you guys pay for your GND filters... is that the usual price for them?

Thx for the tips. I did have a question though. I read an article online about photographing sunsets and someone said to under expose the image to bring out the colors. So do you think I should follow their advice or just shoot at a normal exposure?

[Krusty79]

I'm going to copy and paste my critique of another image because yours has the same issue:

"Well the sky looks good, but the tougher part is getting the sky and ground both correctly exposed. To do that, you'll need some combination of a graduated neutral density filter/bracketing your shots/shooting RAW so you can make an exposure blend or HDR. Your camera cannot capture the dynamic range in this scene, so the foreground is way underexposed. It is a common landscape issue and will be until they can make cameras that capture more than 9 stops of light (your eye can see about 20)."

Underexposing the sunset sky will bring out more colors, but then the ground will be WAY underexposed. That's why bracketing your shots and shooting RAW will allow you to create one jpeg exposed for the sky and one for the ground. You can then blend the two images with a layer mask. I do that for most of my shots now.

I spent $90 for my Lee .6 (two stop) GND filter. Hi-Tech makes some cheaper ones that still work okay from what I have heard.

GND filters | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[TBrown00]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

I spent $90 for my Lee .6 (two stop) GND filter. Hi-Tech makes some cheaper ones that still work okay from what I have heard.

Mine is a .9 Hitech. While the Lee is a better filter, mine seems to work just fine and I haven't noticed any color casts or other issues with it.

If you like to shoot scenes like this, a GND is necessary in order to expose the entire scene and not have one portion be under/over exposed. Personally, I prefer to use a GND rather than do HDR when possible. Not that HDR is bad or that I'm against it, I just prefer a GND since most of my landscape shots have uninterrupted horizons. It also saves me time in post