sunset shoots

photographers! I haven’t forgotten about you! even though I’m no longer traveling and teaching, I thought now would be the perfect time to throw a quick blog post up sharing my favorite sunset shooting tips.

underexpose

this is the easiest and most beneficial tip i have for you. i’m not sure where you are in your photography journey, but i hope that you’re shooting in manual (controlling shutter speed and iso on your own). if you read your histogram and meter while shooting, try clicking a little darker than your norm, and see what you get.

here’s an example:

Top left is straight from camera, underexposed. Top right is brightened in photoshop, giving you an idea of what my meter would have told me to do (this is why I don’t listen to my meter but rather go based off my own eye), and the bottom is a quick edit of the underexposed image.

in my humble opinion, mood is easier to translate with a deeper, richer image. haze and glow is also more present in an underexposed image.

look for the soft halo of light

When the sun is higher, light can be trickier. one fail safe is to place your clients in a backlit spot, eyeballing their placement by the halo of light around their heads.

Here are a few good examples:

you move, not your client

during a sunny evening, you may have a point during the shoot that you’ve place your clients in a perfect spot only to find that the sun is actually blasting you right in the face.

easy fix. you don’t have to move them. YOU need to move. angle your camera at a more downward angle to cut the light. walk in a semi-circle around where they’re placed, playing with how to cut the light. side light is beautiful at sunset! simply put, move. up, down, tippy toes. squat, circle, tilt.

Three simple tips! maybe it seems too simple, but below you’ll find them all together in action to create some major mood.

underexpose. halo of light. move around your client

til next time.