How to photograph sunsets - part 1

There’s more to photographing a sunset than just capturing the colour. So how do you can inject more visual appeal, drama and romance into your pictures?

Sunsets have always attracted photographers and artists, and so they should. But there’s more to capturing a great sunset photograph than just pointing a camera at a colourful sky. It is unlikely that you will need to improve on the colour of a really good sunset, either with filters or in Photoshop, but if you want to capture the romance and spectacle of the moment, you simply must resort to sound composition and good camera craft.

Strangely, it is rarely the glory of the sky alone that rivets the viewer or stirs the imagination in a successful sunset picture. It is more likely to be the inclusion of a foreground: people, landscape or other objects that the sunset is actually lighting or silhouetting. It will be the whole scene that will tell of the romance or drama, not just the sky. In an exotic location, a picture of the setting sun can express the thrill of travel like few other subjects. However, the most common mistake leading to boring pictures is to get so dazzled by the splendour of the scene that you cease to look at it objectively – you must bear in mind the way the camera will record it.

TOP PICTURE: an interesting foreground has been included in the picture of the lighthouse. There is no detail in the silhouettes of the rocks – just outline shape, that’s fine. The eye is moves over them and across the bay to the island and the sky, taking in detail as it goes. The pictures has much more to say about the subject and is far more rewarding to look at. Notice how that colour has been reflected right into the foregound

SECOND PICTURE: Yawwwwn… okay, nice colours. But where is the real visual impact? The only thing that can be said about this is that it is correctly exposed and the lighthouse has been placed on one of the vertical lines of our Rule of Thirds. The picture has no depth. Bin it!

BOTTOM PICTURE: A wide angle lens has been used to include lots of interesting foreground details. Notice how the reflected colour of the setting sun has been brought right into the foreground adding more value to the whole image. The camera was put on a tripod and a shutter speed 1/30sec was used at f11. The exposure was taken from the foreground. The small aperture has helped created a nice sparkle flare around the sun

NEXT in part 2 - Photographing people at sunset

Photographing Christmas lights

Following our festive theme, here’s a picture of one of those houses festooned with OTT Christmas decorations. Well, you’ve got to take a few photographs, haven’t you?
Once again, the old methods work best in these situations…

Find your best angle.
Get the camera on a good firm tripod.

ISO down to 100.
Aperture stopped down to f11.
Long exposure.

Again, I just used the ‘Bulb’ setting on the camera, opened the shutter for a couple of seconds or so. Checked to see the image was okay, and moved on to the next shot. Keep it simple. It's always best.

What do you do with your White Balance (WB) setting for pictures like this?
Take it easy, that’s what. In this case I stuck it on Auto White Balance (AWB). Doesn’t seem a thousand miles out to me.

TODAY’S TIP
Try to take these pictures just before it goes completely dark. The perfect time is when there is still a touch of colour in the sky.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone, and thanks for visiting my new blog. I hope you are enjoying it and finding it useful. Please do post your questions and responses.

How to photograph sparks - Part 3

For this picture I have used a separate flash unit to add some details to the man’s face. Compare this shot to the one shown in Part 2. That was taken without flash.

The technique I use is desperately simple. If the shutter speed is set to ‘bulb’, or is slow enough (perhaps 1/2second or less), there is no need to connect the flash to the camera by any means – cables or infra-red. You can even hold the flash in one hand, point it at your subject and fire it manually just before you close the shutter. So – open the shutter - fire the flash – close the shutter. This is the way Victorian photographers worked over 100 year ago when they used flash powder… yes, I know, I’m an old git. The technique works just as well today with your electronic flash and digital camera. But the makers of hi-tech gear will not thank me for telling you.

The flash has lit the man’s face. I set the flash to ‘manual’ mode and put it on half power. This was just about right, taking into consideration the flash to subject distance, the f11 aperture set on the camera, and the brightness of the sparks. Experiment with your own flash unit you get the results you want. You can play with your flash guide numbers if you have the patience, but, frankly, to me life is too short.

For the picture of the glass-modeller (left) I used two flash units - one from behind the sitter to separate his dark hair from the black background.

Whatever you do, do not use too much flash power. This will destroy the atmosphere. To be effective, most of the light should come from the sparks themselves.

Sometime I do connect the flash to the camera with an extension cable, radio, or infra-red device. Then I prefer to set a fixed shutter speed on the camera (not ‘bulb’ mode). I also set the flash synchronisation mode to ‘rear’. This fires the flash at the end of the fixed exposure, just before the shutter is closed. The reason for firing the flash at the end of the exposure is to avoid the subject’s movement (they often jump) as soon as the flash goes off.

TIP… It is vital that you brief your subject before you start. The subject’s head must be kept very still during the exposure.

TIP.. To find the ‘bulb’ setting is on your camera, set the camera to ‘M’ Manual exposure mode. Slow the shutter speed down as far as it will go. The ‘bulb’ setting is usually the next setting after 30-seconds.

How to photograph night events. Part 3

This final shot was taken well after dark - when all the light had gone from the sky. Of course that needed a very slow shutter speed - 1/2sec. This meant I had to wait for a moment when the marching bands were actually standing still before pressing the shutter button.

The event ended with a fireworks display, and, of course I photographed that. The problem was that this display happened way over to my right - in another part of the sky. As my client wanted photographs that would promote the town in brochures and posters, this called for a little artistic license. I simply put the images together on the computer by using the layers and mask layer facility. In fact there are three pictures layered together here. One for each firework, and one for the street scene. I very carefully used the polygon lasso tool to select an area around the castle so that the images of the fireworks would appear to be in the sky some distance behind.

If you do this sort of composite picture of a public event, I feel it is important that you tell that client exactly what you have done.

The original shot of the street - without fireworks - is shown here on the right.

How to photograph night events. Part 2

It is sometimes possible to mix and match some of the three methods I mentioned in Part 1 with good results. For instance, you might use flash with a slow shutter speed. The duration of the flash is very short indeed and will freeze any action or movement. The slow shutter speed, however (maybe around 1/30sec or less), will cause the shutter to remain open long enough to capture some of the natural light. Any moving subject lit by this light will appear blurred. This creates a sort of double exposure – one for the flash and one for the available light. It is a technique that can prove highly effective and, if done properly, will inject a powerful sense of movement into the picture.

This was the first picture I took as darkness fell, the action really began. I upped the ISO to 400 and used flash for this picture. I set the shutter speed to 1/30sec and the aperture to f8. This combination has nicely balanced the flash with what little daylight remains in the sky. Had I used a faster shutter speed – say 1/125sec, the sky would have become almost black and the flash would have dominated. Notice how the reflective sign on the very left of the pictures has bounced the light of the flash back again. Beware of this if street signs are in your picture. This time it can be easily cropped off or cloned out.

A little bit of pre-planning can really pay dividends when covering a street event. You may have to decide between finding one good vantage point (see Part 1) from which you can photograph the entire event, or moving around the scene to shoot pictures of the action.

In the photograph on the right you can see that night has fallen. I have used a very slow shutter speed, 1/8sec with flash set to Rear Sync (sometimes called Rear Curtain). This fires the flash at the END of the exposure and creates trails behind any object in the image that moves while the shutter is open before the flash has fired. This can be an effective way of creating the sense of movement within your picture. Experiment - it's fun.


In Part 3: A little post-production work to create something special

How to photograph night events. Part 1

Outdoor events after dark, present one of the most challenging of assignments; and coping with the light – or lack of it – is at the top of the list of problems you'll face.

The photograph here is of the Kirkudbright Tattoo. A wonderful event of Scottish pipers, marching and music. The shot was planned some days before the event. I secured the use of an upstairs window overlooking the street where the action would take place. From this vantage point I could see everything that happened below and had the backdrop of the castle. The camera was mounted on a heavy tripod which extended out of the window. The ISO was pushed up to 800 and an exposure of 1/8sec at f4 was used. With such a slow shutter speed it was inevitable that there would be some movement in the marching pipers, but as they are marching almost directly towards the camera, this is hardly noticeable. The important aim was to capture the atmosphere and splendour of an outdoor night event in the street.

There are broadly three methods of dealing with the difficulties that low light levels present.

1
Put your camera on a tripod and use a slow shutter speed. You will not need to bother about using a fast ISO, and you will be free to use a smaller aperture with its greater depth of field to get more of the scene in focus. Good, you should have a sharp picture of the overall scene - the buildings and surroundings, and that slow ISO will give you fine quality. But hang on, that’s okay if nothing within the scene moves. If it does, your long exposure may render it as a blur.
2
Whack up the ISO as high as possible, maybe ISO 1600, and use the fastest possible shutter speed to freeze the action. Bearing in mind the low light conditions, you may also have to use a wide aperture to achieve this fast shutter speed, this means you will have less depth of field, and the image will be of poorer quality due to the faster ISO. It’s all a compromise, really. However, this method can achieve some wonderfully atmospheric pictures using what little natural light is available. It's a useful technique.

3
Use eletronic flash. This can freeze any action, but the downside is that it is likely to eradicate any atmosphere with its harsh, ‘press photo’ results… and remember - when shooting with flash outside at night any distant background may become totally black because the light of the flash will not carry that far.

In part 2… I'll show you how to combine some of these methods