Shooting a Silhouette Sunset Tutorial
By Ryan in Photography on Oct 20, 2009
How to catch the rich vibrant color of the setting sun
As any good photographer knows, the best time to shoot a landscape is within 30min of sunrise or sunset. This applies to almost all shots, regardless of subject. However, sometimes, you want to shoot the sunset itself as the primary subject. You want everything else to fade into a black silhouette foreground and to capture the rich color of the sky.
This tutorial is aimed at explaining how to shoot such a photo, if you want to learn how to process your sunset photo, check out our tutorial on editing a silhouette sunset.
Aspect #1: The Horizon
When taking your shot, it is very important for the horizon to be in focus. If the silhouette of the topography is blurred, the final image will reflect this.
It is also important that the horizon be completely blacked out, it should be so under-exposed that it is completely black.
How to shoot a sharp, black, horizon
- • Focus on it, this is key, even though it might seem more important to focus on the sky, remember, slight blurring in the clouds wont look odd as clouds are naturally blurry. Focus on the most prominent silhouette edge.
- • Shoot with the narrowest aperture that your lens supports.
- • Shoot with a tripod. When shooting a cascading sunset we will be using long exposure times and thus a tripod is crucial.
- • Use a remote control, even pushing the shutter button on your camera can slightly move it, most cameras support both wireless and wired remote controls that allow you to take your shot without pressing the shutter. Alternatively you can use your camera's timer to shoot after you have safely moved away.
- • Shoot after the sun has set beyond the horizon, and shoot towards the sunset.
- • Set your exposure based on the brightness of the sky, not the horizon
Aspect #2: Lighting
All the lighting from your shot should come from the sunset itself, not from street lights, not from car lights, and not from a flash.
How to ensure your lighting is perfect
- • Shoot from the shadows, sit under a tree, or under an overhang if this helps
- • Try to avoid any direct line of sight from a light source to your camera lens, a lens hood can be very useful to protect against this.
- • Wait until after the sun has set beyond the horizon so that there are no direct reflections.
Aspect #3: Color
The most prevalent aspect of a horizon silhouette shot is the rich color of the horizon. It is important to capture as much of this color as possible with the camera so that it can be later boosted in Photoshop.
How to capture the color of the sky
- • Shoot with your white balance set to "shadows."
- • Shoot in the most vivid setting your camera allows.
- • Use long exposure to better capture the color. Aim for between 6 and 10 seconds of exposure time. If the sky is still too bright and you are finding that your photo is becoming over-exposed, use a neutral density filter. (Neutral density filters darken your lens so that it lets less light through)
- • Shoot as many photos as you can, at this time of day the sky changes rapidly, start shooting about 15min before the sun sets and keep shooting until you have to use 20 to 30 second exposures to capture the image.
- • Shoot with low ISO, given that you are shooting on a tripod, it is alright to favor long exposure instead of high ISO to gather data. This will help reduce noise.
Aspect #4: Patience
Perhaps the most difficult and frustrating part. The sunset isn't always playfully gorgeous, you may have to go out every night for a month before you get the shot you want. Don't become discouraged, use the off nights to practice so that you are prepared for when a vibrant sunset does show itself.
Conclusion
The rich vivid color of a sunset can produce a beautiful image that is always unique. With practice, capturing it can be both fun and rewarding.
Also try to remember that, a big portion of properly capturing vivid sunsets is in post production, don't expect for the image to be perfectly saturated right off the camera. To learn how to edit your sunset, check out our tutorial on editing a silhouette sunset.
