sunset/sunrise

[johnny_outdoors]

I am getting ready for a trip out west, in which last year I was able to take some cool shots. My question is, I was able to frame some nice shots at sunrise/set as a background, but how do I go about getting something properly exposed in the foreground, well still getting a nice background of the sunset? Is it best to lock on something and then move to the background?? Another question, I really like the light I get on images from say a sunset, but on some of the things it came out a bit to warm, is fixing this just a matter of changing the white balance, or filter, or any other suggestions?? Thanks for any input. John

[edwards8020]

These are tricky light situations b/c you can have as much as 4-5 stops of difference between a properly exposed sky above the horizon and a properly exposed foreground below the horizon. With most sunsets/sunrise, you would meter off the dusky sky, not directly into the sun.

I am still a beginner, but based on my reading and research - if you don't want the foreground to be silhouettes, you can use a graduated neutral density filter.

Basically this filter reduces the amount of light entering the lens at the top of the image and gradually reduces to a nothing at the bottom. You can get them in various degrees of intensity. For example, a 4-stop filter will effectively give you 4 stops of exposure compensation at the "sky" portion of your image, while blending to nothing below the horizon - so you could keep some of the highlights and details.

Here are a few other posts showing this :
Wow! First go using graduated ND filter
Help with sunset photo

Also, I have also read that a lot of folks prefer to bracket their photos and get the best blend in post processing. I think it is called different things depending on your post-processing software, but search for threads with words like 'digital graduated NDF (neutral density filter)' or 'exposure blending'.

Here is an example of a link explaining this :
http://www.gimpguru.org/Tutorials/NDFilter/

Hope this helps. Good luck on your trip !

[dcclark]

edwards8020 has it about right. Graduated ND filters are useful, as are HDR/enblend techniques.

Another option -- which can be tricky, but gives really fun results -- is to use light painting and/or external light sources to illuminate your subject. This is especially fun with colored or gelled lights. This can expose your foreground properly AND give all sorts of crazy effects.

[johnny_outdoors]

Ok, well to get a little further into my story, it is a hunting trip, and I love trying to put the dogs in the picture, and often try and shoot the camera more than the gun. A lot of this is based on shear luck, as they are pointing dogs, so this one hear the dog was on point rite time rite place. The original pic came out way underexposed and dark, and this is fixed in PP by lightening the foreground. However I would like to get a little closer to reality in the real world without being so far off. Is what you guys gave me still my best bet, as I am hoping for something easily adaptable on the fly,like the filters? Thanks again.