sunset photography
Each year, for the past five years, I've run photo workshops in Miami's famed South Beach in January. In 2017, I've teamed with Canon for an awesome workshop that will included photographing in South Beach, Little Havana and at Wynwood Walls. Lots of photo processing, too.
Read MoreHey All - As some of you know, my sunrise and sunset app is no longer available. The app featured 34 sunrise and sunset photo tips. Because the app is no longer available, I thought I'd share all of my tips in this post. Enjoy!
Read MoreHappy Friday! I hope you get to see some great sunsets over the weekend. If you do, here are five quick tips to help you get great shots.
Starburst Effect. When the sun is in the frame, set your aperture to f/22 to get the starburst effect. The wider the lens, the more pronounced the starburst effect. Also, make sure your lens is totally clean. Even a tiny speck of dust can look like a big blobg in a picture when you are shooting into the sun. Location: Spearfish, South Dakota.
No Filters. When shooting into the sun, remove all filters from your lens, even your skylight filter. When a filter is on your lens, the sunlight passes through the filter and may (depending on the angle of the sun) bounce off the front element of your lens and back onto the filter, creating a ghost image of the sun in your frame - which you see here. Location: Key West, Florida.
Foreground Element. When ever possible, use a foreground element to add a sense of scale to your photograph. Also, the more “layers” you have in a scene, the greater the sense of depth. Here there are three layers: bird in the foreground, birds in mid-frame, and the mountains/sun in the background. Location: Bosque del Apache, New Mexico.
Silhouettes. When photographing someone against a sunrise or sunset, have him or her look directly left or right so you can see his or her profile. If they look at the camera, you will not be able to recognize them. Location: Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Expose for the Highlights. In high-contrast situations, it’s important to expose for the highlights. Make sure your camera’s highlight alert feature is activated and avoid “blinkies.” Also check your histogram and make sure you don’t have a big spike on the right. Location: Spearfish, South Dakota.
Need help finding the best light this weekend? Check out my Photo Sundial app (screen grabs above) on my iPhone and iPad apps page. A Bosque app is there, too.
Have a fun-in-the-sun and creative weekend.
Explore the light,
Rick
P.S. If you like photographing horses, I have a few horse photography workshops in 2015.
To celebrate the release of my
Photo Sundial app, which runs on the iPhone and the iPad, I am running a series here on my blog: Seven Days of
Sunrise/Sunset Photography Tips. Each day I'll share two tips from the
Gallery section of the app, for a total of 14 images. Check out all the images in the app, which is on sale until September 30th for only $2.99.
Today is Day 4.
Silhouettes. When photographing someone against a sunrise or sunset, have him or her look directly left or right so you can see his or her profile. If the person looks at or away from the camera, you will not be able to recognize him or her. Also, underexpose just a bit to add some saturation to your image. Finally, activate your camera's Highlight Alert feature and make sure the area around the sun is not overexposed. To soften the image above, I used the Duplex filter in Nik Color Efex Pro. Location: Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Rule of Odds. If you have the opportunity to photograph an even or odd number of subjects, go for the odd number. For some reason, the rule of odds usually makes for better composition than the rule of evens. Location: Moro Bay/The California Photo Fest, where I will be teaching this October. Be there or be square.
Read more about Photo Sundial - the app that helps you find the position of the sun so you can make awesome images - and much more more.
Explore the light,
Rick
To celebrate the release of my Photo Sundial app, which runs on the iPhone and the iPad, I am running a series here on my blog: Seven Days of Sunrise/Sunset Photography Tips. Each day I'll share two tips from the Gallery section of the app, for a total of 14 images. Check out all the images in the app, which is on sale until September 30th.
Foreground Element. When possible, use a foreground element to add a sense of scale to your photograph. Also, the more “layers” you have in a scene, the greater the sense of depth. In the photo above, there are three layers: bird in the foreground, birds in mid-frame, and the mountains/sun in the background. Location: Bosque del Apache, New Mexico.
Horizon Line. Usually, placing the horizon line in the center of the frame is boring. When the sky is interesting, place the horizon line at the bottom of the frame, and vice versa. Location: Kenya, Africa.
Read more about Photo Sundial -
the app that helps you find the position of the sun so you can
make awesome images - and much, much more.
Explore the light,
Rick
