what filter to use to shoot sunset?


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lumpyme

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what filter to use when shooting sunset? taking into account the reflection off the sea... any suggestions?

(im thinkin CPL or GND. useful?)
 

what filter to use when shooting sunset? taking into account the reflection off the sea... any suggestions?

(im thinkin CPL or GND. useful?)

Probably both, from what I've read. Sunsets/Sunrise are still a thing I constantly struggle with though. =D
 

GND is very useful to help balance out the exposure since the sky will usually be a lot brighter than the ground/surrounds. CPL helps to make the colours deeper. And yes, u can have a normal ring-type CPL on ur lens and then a cokin (or equiv) holder mounted on that with a GND and maybe an ND or 2 if you want to go for the long exposure, smokey water look. This way, u have full control over where the gradient ends up. However, don't try this on a crop-factor wide angle lens. It will likely vignette a lot. A FF lens on a crop body works well tho.
 

how many stop GND would u recommend?
 

oh many thanks!
 

If you wait for the moment when the Sun almost set at the horizon, you should able to capture nice sunset w/o any filter or CPL.

Click here to see my labrador sunset shot

nice shot!

but the thing is i want to retain more details, cuz ill be shooting at fishermans wharf in taiwan. and i cant always travel there so besides emo shots, id prefer to have a fair bit more scenery...
 

do note that if u use a hard grad... most likely all ur shots will have ur horizon at the same place. if not the exposures will be pretty ugly...

try using a soft grad if u want to have a little bit of leeway in moving the horizon slightly up or down...


or just use the hard grad, shoot a little wider, and crop to ur desired composition...
 

do note that if u use a hard grad... most likely all ur shots will have ur horizon at the same place. if not the exposures will be pretty ugly...

try using a soft grad if u want to have a little bit of leeway in moving the horizon slightly up or down...


or just use the hard grad, shoot a little wider, and crop to ur desired composition...

anyone got any sample pics. with the same scene but varying between hard and soft gnd?
 

When taking sunset shots, an impt factor is where you meter for your exposure. CPLs, ND filters are additional add-ons which are not as crucial.

Megaweb, can you share how do you meter for your sunset shot?
 

but the thing is i want to retain more details, cuz ill be shooting at fishermans wharf in taiwan. and i cant always travel there so besides emo shots, id prefer to have a fair bit more scenery...
Dun think you can achieve details of the foreground against the sun. I think you will get silhouette effect. Maybe in the early morning, you can get everything well exposure.
 

Megaweb, can you share how do you meter for your sunset shot?
Normally I will look out for mid tone within the frame. The moment when the sun almost set at the horizon ( I think it only last for 1 min ), the sun is not bright and glaring. I will meter the sky next to the sun and compensate accordingly.
 

Dun think you can achieve details of the foreground against the sun. I think you will get silhouette effect. Maybe in the early morning, you can get everything well exposure.

umm... im not too sure haha.. but i was hoping the filters can blance it out a bit more so that i can get details of the foreground in as well..

otherwise i guess ill soon forget where i took the photo haha mayb i shd have bought the sony alpha :think: hahahha
 

or use a fuji s3/s5pro.

That will give you 2-3 more stops of highlight range. This is much more flexible than using a 2-3 stop grad ND filter as you can apply the filter in photoshop.

the raw file will capture both the highlight and foreground details easily.
 

agreed with megaweb, meter at the mid tone areas.

unless you are shooting water as foreground against sunset, else you can't get any details in foreground.

btw, CPL won't work if you are shooting the sun, it works best is when sun is on your right, top or left, perpendicular with the lens axis.

sunrise
DSC_0685.jpg


sunset
DSC_2691_cs.jpg


all shot in jpg, no filter.
 

nice shot!

but the thing is i want to retain more details, cuz ill be shooting at fishermans wharf in taiwan. and i cant always travel there so besides emo shots, id prefer to have a fair bit more scenery...

I do not use filters too.

I was there last year... here is what I've got...

SunsetDanshui.jpg


Taipei-27-web.jpg


No filters... just colour adjustment during PP.

ps: the orginal photos looks quite different from these...

BC
 

Hi There,

Taking SUnset/Sunrise shots are really fun. Its different everyday. SO the better hit rate would be thorgh more shooting.

Here are some of my tips.
1) Use and observe nature: If you are planning to shoot sunset, you can monitor horizon cloud or atmospheric behaviours of the sunrise of tha same day. From my experience, the sun set of the day should 70% look lke the sun rise of the day as the atmospheric content of the area within the same day may still be the same a the end of the day. This curtain of atmospheric particles will effect the color, intensity and dtals of the clouds. Sad to say, st times a polluted sky can give you good color and also attenuate (cut-down) the brightness of the sun setting and hence allow better details. As for the sun rise, watch the sunset, it should be quite similar. All these greatly deopending on the cloud cover too!!! When ther is clouds......try t use it to addd details...like this one..
photo2.jpg


Effects of pollution.....no need ND filter.....
photo15.jpg

FYI: Do you know that the scientists identify what gasses there are in the Sun by means of shining a beam of light in to a chamber filled with different gasses. With the different gasses, the colors of the light beam changes.



2) Balancing exposure: Once you have a good dynamic range of subject, the you can use NG grad filters like Cokin/Singh Ray etc to cut the light analogous to using a sunglasses. If the intensity of the sun is too great, using too much filter may result in the other areas to be too dark. Get a general exposure of the scene with the desired foreground exposure. Take the Tv Av values and plug in into the camera in Manaul mode (assuming using SLR).
Then you can use say a ND2~ND8 Graduated or a mixture of them (coupling 4+2 etc.) to get the desired effect. Put on a shirt that have many pockets that will enable you to pull the right mix of NG filters. have the filters ready and flick the neccesary ND power as the sun sets. Make sure that you meter your scene first before puttin ghte ND filters on...

You can mix ND filters and also subjects to hide strong direct sun like this..
photo5.jpg
 

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