A Kansas Sunset

[BulldogMom]

I tried my hand at sunset shots last night. Took the camera, wide angle lens, and a tripod out to the edge of town and set up outside the baseball complex.

I think that this is my favorite shot of the bunch but I have a couple questions.

Should I try to get some color in the landscape? or is it ok all blacked out?

And when taking sunset shots how to you compose them? Should the sun be in the center? or off to one side?



Thanks for any input you might have.

[indigoboo]

IMO, both of those questions are purely a matter of personal preference. I like the silhouette look of the land in your pic, and I would keep the sun in the center in this particular shot.

[juanp83]

I like the sun in the center for sunset shots. However, I definitely would have followed the rule of thirds for the horizon. I think if you brought the horizon up just a little bit it would have helped with the composition.

I think its okay that the landscape is blacked out since the subject is obviously the sun/sky. Although, some color/detail may have made the picture more interesting. Ofcourse that depends on what was on the lanscape, since it could also have been distracting.

I love the sky and the colors. Thanks for sharing!

[HockeyFan]

What you've done is great. How many seconds did you have the shutter open on this, and what time was it when you shot this? I'm curious. I noticed you turned the auto white balance off as well as other auto settings. You did a good job considering you're still getting used to the new camera. Good job.

[BulldogMom]

Originally Posted by HockeyFan

...How many seconds did you have the shutter open on this, and what time was it when you shot this?...

This was taken fairly early, the sun was just going down. It was only about 8:30pm.

Here's the data, I wouldn't have been able to tell you about the exposure setting without it. I had been changing the settings every couple of shots just kind of seeing how it affected the picture and watching the histogram.


Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

[BulldogMom]

Originally Posted by juanp83

I like the sun in the center for sunset shots. However, I definitely would have followed the rule of thirds for the horizon. I think if you brought the horizon up just a little bit it would have helped with the composition.

I think its okay that the landscape is blacked out since the subject is obviously the sun/sky. Although, some color/detail may have made the picture more interesting. Ofcourse that depends on what was on the lanscape, since it could also have been distracting.

I love the sky and the colors. Thanks for sharing!

I tilted the camera up pretty high to cut out some distracting things in the foreground. I need to find a different spot to set up next time. Maybe even moving just a few feet might help.

I wondered if the horizon line wasnt' too low, maybe I can add a little to the bottom in photoshop. I might play with that when there's time.

I hope to get some sunset shots around harvest time when the air is full of wheat dust. Even though that's a terrible time for my allergies, you see some pretty colors in the sunset.

Thanks! Let me know if you have any other suggestions to make the next one better.