It is not a dream to shoot a beautiful sunset and become a photographer.

Photographer's combination of light and shadow, in order to make photos brilliant, must use light to make photos look better! Can better reflect the effect you want, to shoot the ideal sunset landscape, you need to grasp the ever-changing light!

In my personal experience, the best shooting location is where you can find two different compositions at the same time. In addition, it is better to have different lighting conditions, so that your chances of shooting spectacular sunsets will double? If we want to find such a place, the first thing to consider is the direction of light. When the sun sets in the west and approaches the horizon, the last ray of sunshine before dusk will add a beautiful warm color to the earth, illuminate the hills opposite to the sun, and bring a golden glow to the earth. After the sun disappears completely below the horizon, we still have a short time to appreciate the beauty of the sunset glow before the real darkness comes. At this time, you can try to change the shooting angle to the direction facing the sun, and have the opportunity to take a sunset photo with silhouette effect.

Looking for a shooting location

Find your best shooting position

The early bird catches the worm. Don't always wait until the last minute to find the shooting location. You know, in the whole process of sunset, I'm afraid we don't have that much time to find two shooting locations with completely different directions and perfect composition. We can choose to go out for a field trip at noon. Most photographers will not go out to shoot at this time. After all, the lighting conditions are not good at this time. We can go out lightly, or just take a portable camera to record the scene, so we don't have to walk with heavy equipment.

The position of the sunset glow after the shooting day.

Don't forget to find out the exact direction and location of the sunset before you start investigating the shooting location. We can search for relevant information through the Internet in advance, and then use the compass to locate it, or use the mobile App to help us confirm the relevant information. When we really start investigating, we should remember that our goal is to find a suitable place to shoot sunsets and sunset clouds. Of course, the two places are not necessarily the same place, but if they are different places, it is best not to be too far apart. After all, we don't want to waste precious shooting time on walking.

Tips for choosing a place to shoot the sunset

composition

Some people may prefer to include the sun in the composition when shooting the sunset, but here we are more concerned with the appearance of other scenery at sunset. For sunset scenes, the most important thing to shoot is to capture golden light. If there are hills or mountains in your composition, the sunset will light up the top of the mountain and create a very attractive picture. In addition to hoping to integrate the elements of mountains into the composition, I also pay more attention to finding places that can create a layered and depth-of-field picture. Emphasize the distance between foreground and background by using foreground elements.

There are mountains in the background.

In addition, we can try to find some scenery with visual guidance function to guide the viewer's line of sight from the foreground to the background. Of course, we can also use some interesting scenery, such as a unique plant or some colorful rocks as the foreground of the picture.

Tips for choosing the location to shoot the sunset glow after sunset

cast

Once the last ray of sunshine disappears on the horizon, we can start to change the shooting position and prepare to enter the process of shooting the sunset glow. In the sunset scene after sunset, all the scenery on the ground will be in shadow. At this time, we no longer need to pay attention to the depth of field, but to the shape of the scene itself, because at this time we want to present the contrast between the interesting silhouette in the picture and the colorful sky. The key to casting is that what we need is something that really has a strong sense of body, not the scenery that is easy to blur in the dark.

When you find the right shooting location, you must remember them. If necessary, we can also use GPS and other positioning equipment to help us determine the specific shooting location, so that we won't get lost when shooting. Finally, be sure to arrive at the shooting scene early. If there are a lot of clouds near the horizon in the sunset direction, the last ray of sunshine may appear earlier than we expected.

Exposure problem when shooting sunset

the exposure effect or the mere exposure effect

When the sun sets and approaches the horizon, the exposure of the whole scene will be more balanced than earlier, but we may still need to use a gradient mirror with medium gray to help us balance the exposure between the sky and the ground.

Exposure of shooting sunset scene after sunset

What we need to remember in this part is not to use those metering modes in the camera for the whole picture, such as evaluation metering or matrix metering. Instead, use spot metering to measure the sky in the picture. On the one hand, it can ensure the perfect restoration of colors and details in the sky, on the other hand, it is also to make the foreground in the picture show a silhouette effect.

abstract

Sunset scenery