Sunset with under exposed mountains

[LYNDZEE]

Without using photoshop, is it posible to get a great shot of the sunset and the mountains?

[oldwolf]

yes, but you'd have to get a gradual neutral density filter. i'd recommend a cokin filter since you can slide the filter up and down to get the right separation of mtn from sky.

[PhotoNewt]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

yes, but you'd have to get a gradual neutral density filter. i'd recommend a cokin filter since you can slide the filter up and down to get the right separation of mtn from sky.

Cokin is a good starting system, the optical quality is not as good and the GND are not truly neutral in color. B+H are reasonably priced (as it goes for photographic equipment I mean) and offer better optical quality.

I have copied a response I posted earlier to a similar question in case it helps you...

"...Your problem seems to be that you are not taking into account the significant exposure difference between the sky and the foreground in landscapes. For this type of photography what you need is to take exposure readings from the sky and foreground separately and to use a graduated neutral density filter if needed to bring the exposure of the sky closer to that of the ground - assuming you own an SLR.

Metering the sky:
Put your camera on manual mode and set the aperture to say f/16. Point the camera to the sky making sure not to include the sun and to fill the viewfinder with sky only, set the shutter speed until the exposure is correct and take note of it. Lets say for this example the shutter speed is 1/125.

Metering the foreground:
Next, keep your camera on manual with aperture at f/16, point the camera to the ground (the feature that is most important to you) and again, change the shutter speed until the exposure is correct. Make sure only the ground fills the entire viewfinder area. Let say the shutter speed comes to 1/30.

With this information you can see that the ground will require four times as much exposure time as the sky to come correctly exposed. If you take a picture at 1/30 though, the sky will be overexposed, if you take it at 1/125, the ground will be dark. What you need to do is reduce the amount of light that comes from the sky by 2-stops (1/125 -> 1/60 -> 1/30) so that the entire scene can be captured at 1/30 and everything exposes correctly.

Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filter:
These are pieces of glass where one half is dark and the other is transparent. The dark area blocks light, they come on several strengths and calibrated to decrease light by 1, 2, 3 or more stops, but just on the dark area. What you need to do is choose a 2-stop filter, place it in front of your lens (using a mounting bracket) and align the transition line on the horizon, the dark part covering the sky. This will effectively decrease the light from the sky reaching the sensor by 2-stops, requiring four times longer exposure to register correctly - instead of needing 1/125 second exposure, it now needs 1/30 second exposure, the same as the ground.

With the filter in place, you set up your exposure to f/16 and 1/30, focus as needed and take the picture - this will produce an image where the sky and ground are both properly exposed..."

Hope this helps.

[inkista]

You could also try post-processing techniques to digitally blend exposures: say one taken with the sky exposed the way you like it, and one with the mountains the way you like it and combining the elements you like using layers and masks, or taking a bracketed series of exposures and using something like enfuse (via hugin), or HDR (high dynamic range) processing.

Be careful if you go the HDR route--different folks have different tastes in terms of how to accomplish tone-mapping. Some people favor a natural look, others a more surreal one, and different tools and tutorials are often reaching for different end results.