How To Take Better Sunset Photos

Setting up your digital SLR for sunset photos

When you photograph a beach at sunset, you want everything in focus, from the vegetation in the sand dunes to the distant clouds, which is what you get when you shoot in Aperture Priority mode with a small aperture of f/8 or smaller (a larger f/stop number). A low ISO setting ensures that you get a sharp image that has little or no digital noise. The Single Shot Focus mode is perfect because landscapes don’t move. When the camera achieves focus, you’re ready to shoot the picture. A wide-angle focal length range between 28mm and 35mm provides you with a wide view that captures the clouds and landscape with a nice reflection of the sun on the water. While the sun sinks and eventually drops below the horizon, the amount of available light changes. Therefore, you need to increase the ISO setting to keep the aperture at f/8 or smaller.

Taking sunset pictures on the beach

Get to the beach about 20 minutes before sunset, find a suitable vantage point, and get your camera set up.

You don’t have to wait for the sun to go down, start taking pictures when the sun reflects on the bottom of the clouds and bathes them with a golden hue. Move around and compose pictures with interesting objects between you and the sun — beach vegetation and people walking on the beach add interest to your image. Switch to a medium telephoto focal length between 85mm and 100mm, and zoom in on a feature, such as a lifeguard station or some vegetation. Focus on the feature and use a slightly larger aperture (a smaller f/stop number), such as f/5.6. These settings give you a limited depth of field. Your subject is in silhouette and sharp focus, and the sun and clouds are a pleasant blur.f the clouds linger after the sun goes down, think about doing the same. As the sun sinks lower, it casts light on the clouds, turning them giddy shades of orange, purple, and blue, and making for wonderful pictures.

Surmounting sunset photo problems

Shooting the sunset may give rise to a photographic problem or two:

• The picture is brighter than the scene. Cameras have a tendency to slightly overexpose scenes such as sunsets. Dial in enough exposure compensation until the picture you get matches the scene in front of you.
• The sun is an orange blob. Digital cameras can’t record the brightness range in a scene like a sunset. If the sun is blown out (over-exposed, with no detail), use exposure compensation to reduce the exposure or compose the picture so that the sun is behind some vegetation or a tall tree.
• The ocean is too dark. Cameras can’t record the same dynamic range of brightness that human eyes can see. Therefore, the exposure is often a compromise; you get a properly exposed sky but a dark ocean. If you like to photograph sunsets, consider investing in a graduated neutral density filter, which darkens the sky without affecting the rest of the picture.

Tips and Tricks To Take The Picture

• Experiment with photo editing and make the most of your photos using Photoshop
• Match the textures in the person’s face with the background
• Frame the subject, for example through a window, a box, etc…
• Break all rules of composition
• Overexpose/underexpose the subject
• Take portraits candidly without the awareness of the person being photographed
• Posing: experiment with having the subject pose in engaging positions
• Capture what’s different about the subject, don’t go for the obvious
• Use shadows and reflections as your subjects or to complement them
• Experiment with macro photography
• Crop your photos to isolate unique aspects of your photos
• Blurred images can make great portraits as they symbolize movement
• Place subjects in unfamilar situations or places and get them out of their comfort zone
• Use props to create interactivity
• Obscure or highlight a part of their body
• Control the light
• Have the subject look off the camera or look inside the actual photo
• Experiment with different lenses and filters
• You’ve heard it before, but it never hurts…. ‘Think outside the box’

How to Take a Black and White Photo

How You’ll Take the Shot

If your intention is to create a black and white photo, start by taking the photo with this in mind as opposed to shooting in color and then switching to greyscale.

Simply put, an original  black and white photo will most likely display better in quality than converting a color photo.

Perspective

When you add your own perspective to your photos, you allow your viewers to take a look inside the meaning behind the subject being photographed.

Depending on what you’re photographing, you should be mindful as to how your photos are going to be interpreted. See the image below for a photo that could be interpreted in multiple ways.

Eliminate Cluttered Backgrounds

Black and white photos communicate best when they have uncluttered and simple backgrounds.

You can address this issue by repositioning the object or person, or by blurring the background. This way, the background does not interfere with the focus of your photo.

Leave out random and insignificant elements, as these will create confusion and compete with the viewer’s attention.

Backlighting and Useful Shadows

Lighting is certainly essential in any photo, especially in black and white photography. As colors are absent, the focus changes to light, shadow and the interaction between these.

Thrive for a balance that allows just enough light in, so that the image is visible and all elements can be clearly made out. There should be just enough dark elements so that that these can block out any distractions that may be caused by too much lighting.

How to Take a Self Portrait

Like most photography techniques, there will be a lot of trial and error involved to get the best results for a self portrait. You’ll usually have to shoot photos over and over again, trying to achieve a perfect combination of pose, coverage and focus.

This is because a self portrait is one of the best ways to express oneself and to portray your personality, which is not easy for most people to do.

For each method below you’ll first set the camera to auto-focus and then change the setting to manual focus. This prevents the camera from refocusing while you move around to the front and get ready to take your photo.

The Camera

You can start by setting the camera on self-timer mode to shoot your photo however, a remote will certainly come in handy and will probably be almost essential for self portraits. You can likely get one for around $20 and having one will significantly simplify the process of taking a photo of yourself.

Coming to Terms with the Shots

There are times when it’s probably going to be difficult to relax in front of the camera. This can cause your portraits to end up looking stiff and lifeless.

In this situation, simply do whatever you’d normally do to relax either before or during the shoot. For example, you may wish to listen to music, sing a favorite song, or think of something that would relax you and make you feel at ease.

Editing your Photo

Once you have a few shots that you think portray what you believe should be your self portrait, it’s usually a good idea to edit the photos further.

It’s rare that a photo will come out perfectly just like as it is. Most times they require cropping, resizing, and anything else.

Experiment with framing, cropping, lighting and saturation until you’re satisfied that the photo truly represents you in the best possible way. You can use any photo editing software to do this, such as Photoshop.