Sunrise and sunset
- Thread starter gary11166
- Start date
what you have is a silhouette photo. Object is back lit by the sun.
this happen when the camera try to meter to get the sky (with the sun) which occupy a significant area of the photo, properly exposed. As mentioned, what you see isn't really what the camera capture as there is a significant difference in dynamic range of the two that is able to capture.
What you can do is just take nice photo of the silhouette or try to get the shot when the sun still very very low in the horizon or use the method above or use flash (if possible) or use reflector (if possible) or move yourself so the object will be front lit by the sun or you can compensate to have the subject correctly exposed with the sky blown or meter the exposure on the subject and have the sky blown or wait for an extremely hazy morning or evening....etc
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Please explain how you would use these filters in this situation
Especially what you expect from the UV filter.
the UV filter are use as protective filter, serve no purpose,
the polarizing filter work best when the sun is perpendicular with lens axis, it can cut down some light but it is on overall area, it will not help here.
basically for Sunrise and sunset shots, more like silhouette photos, you need to find suitable subjects to give the interesting outline.
some thing like these,
if you need to let the foreground have details, you can look for natural fill, like tall trees behind you, or use ND graduate filters,
or photoshop it
but personally, I rather to leave it dark if the foreground is not interesting.
hope this help.
some thing like these,
if you need to let the foreground have details, you can look for natural fill, like tall trees behind you, or use ND graduate filters,
or photoshop it
but personally, I rather to leave it dark if the foreground is not interesting.
hope this help.
It doesn't work in many many situations, especially with odd-shaped transitions (eg. cityscape, architectural, etc)
that i understand, but referring to the topic from TS "Sunrise and sunset" as general, i think GND is pretty much necessary.
If the question was cityscape/buildings appearing too dark, then i'd agree that GND would unlikely to work.
Agree with your point.
Though your statement wasn't entirely clear in the first place. "Sunrise and sunset" is rather general, and could encompass a cityscape during that timing, in which case a GND is not quite "pretty much necessary".
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I will still use GND if I want to keep the buildings in silhouette
ya but then how do you deal with the GND transition line not coinciding with the buildings?
well...there are usually more than 1 way to take a picture, depending on the desired output...
I prefer to think and plan before I go out to shoot, think about the subject, background, weather, equipment, etc...
Plain sunset/sunrise scenery, i'd bring GND.
Portrait with sunset backdrop, bring external flash and reflectors?
maybe silhouette if i don't have the accessories.
for ZerocoolAstra's case, i rather just take silhouette, since i don't do HDR and don't like pp.
I don't think GND will work nicely, unless there is a foreground infront of the building?
i'd usually rather just take silhouette without GND even with foreground tho...
I prefer to think and plan before I go out to shoot, think about the subject, background, weather, equipment, etc...
Plain sunset/sunrise scenery, i'd bring GND.
Portrait with sunset backdrop, bring external flash and reflectors?
maybe silhouette if i don't have the accessories.
for ZerocoolAstra's case, i rather just take silhouette, since i don't do HDR and don't like pp.
I will still use GND if I want to keep the buildings in silhouette
I don't think GND will work nicely, unless there is a foreground infront of the building?
i'd usually rather just take silhouette without GND even with foreground tho...
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ZerocoolAstra said:
Pull my GND lower. Keep transition line on the horizon. The whole idea why I would do this is becos I'm gonna leave everything above the horizon in black while able to darken the sky behind it. Of cos, this is assuming there's nothing else that I also need to darken below the horizon.
I also dun mean it works out every time in scenes with building. But I'll try if possible.
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But many buildings (especially in densely built-up Singapore) don't look nice as silhouettes. Ends up just as one black mess. It will detract from the photo, no matter how beautiful the sunset/sunrise is
