Sunsets are probably one of the most popular natural phenomena to photograph. Most people are awake for them, they occur daily (even if they’re not always super impressive) and they can completely transform a landscape with dazzling hues of pink, orange, blue, yellow and purple. But I’ve recently made a rather peculiar promise to myself – to never take a boring sunset photo again.
I love a sunset as much as anyone, but for me, even really good photos never quite portray their magic. I was sat on a beach in Koh Tao trying to capture the sun setting over the horizon and I found myself looking at the photos completely uninspired. To me, photography is meant to elicit some kind of emotion or remind you of the finer details of that particular moment. So if I’m capturing a sunset that could be taken on any beach in the world where (so long as the sun sets beyond the horizon) I’m not meeting either of my photography criteria.
That’s not to say I’ve stopped taking sunset photos entirely, I’m just deadset on putting a lot more effort into the framing and composition. Instead of taking a sunset shot at the shoreline, I’ll take it from much further back where I can frame it with greenery and include people or boats to add some interest. I look for leading lines that draw your eyes to the focal point or birds that are creating an interesting shape in the sky. Since I’ve started really thinking about it, I’ve fallen in love with taking photos of sunsets all over again. By challenging myself to think outside the box, move around, change my shooting height and experiment with depth of field, I’ve managed to take some sunset shots I’m not only proud of but that I can instantly identify as being a specific beach.
There are a few other things you can do to up your game when it comes to shooting sunsets. If you can afford to, it’s well worth investing in a filter holder kit and a set of graduated filters. Picking one of the best graduated ND filters you can apply a gradual ND filter to either the top or bottom of the image while lining it up with the horizon so you can perfectly expose the highlights without crushing the shadows. Shooting in RAW will also enable you to darken the highlights and bring out the shadows so you can keep the details in the image while the colours of the sky are as true to life as possible. Adding a slight colour grade with warm pink tones in Lightroom, Photoshop, or your chosen photo editing software will make your sunset photos pop – just make sure you don’t go too crazy you don’t want your sunset looking fake!
Although I don’t see nearly half as many (or probably a quarter as many come to think of it), I actually much prefer shooting sunrise. There’s something exciting about capturing the start of a new day yet to unravel, rather than saying goodbye to another one. No matter whether you’re an early bird or a sunset worshipper, you can use these tips to start taking much more impressive sunset photos that will make you more confident in your photography and perhaps even earn themselves a place on your wall.
Read about what I shouldn't have taken with me.
