Sunset Photographs

Recenlty on my trip to Madikeri we reached a place called Raja's seat which is famous for its sunsets and sunrise. Sun happens to be quite photogenic and as I am learning photography, this is one of the things that I would definitely be trying to get better at.

We wandered around the park till the sun was quite high and never noticed that people were gathering around to see the sunset. We clicked loads of random pics of the flowers and buds at which Rohit is best at. Luckily we were in good time to notice the sunset to get my normal digicam into action. All pictures posted here are experimental and have different exposure times. After getting worse to ok kinds of results I thought of getting some tips from the net. Here are a few of them.

Safety first:
As mentioned here in this page, one should avoid looking directly into the sun. Even at sunset or sunrise the sun can easily damage one's eyes and even for digicam users who would see on the lcd only it would be able to damage the camera. Never go taking photographs on a sunny day. Its important for digicam users especially as digicams keep taking exposures of what it sees to be shown on the LCD and hence their sensors are constantly exposed. Hence keep closing the lens when in front of direct sun.

Secondly Sun doesn't pose for you:
Its a rare chance or sheer effort to catch sun in the best of poses. We all know sun is round and have seen some NASA images about it but that's a different kind of astrophotography. What we are looking at is not the sun alone, but about sun in its surroundings which actually lends it a nice dimention. The clouds, the trees, the leaves and even perhaps traffic lights, buildings etc.

Sunset and sunrises are faster than you imagine:
In the photos that I have taken, I got hardly 5 mins of time with sun constantly moving down. So its hardly any time. So don't be miserly on the roll (I know digicam people wont mind) and be fast and decisive.

Preparation:
Know the sunset and the sunrise times to be aware where you have to be and when. What I could find on the net are these. But I think I will stick to intuition and mood. So I wont mind going an hour early on a day when I desperately want that sunrise or sunset. Just know the approximate time and be there an hour early would be my way.

Exposures:
I think exposure should be depending on how much light you are getting on your camera. Best is to be a little conservative on exposing. Expose lesser than you imagine. Less exposure sometimes gets you nice results like these.

Wait after it:
Sunsets might be the best but the glow after sunset is nothing less. Wait and take photographs of glow on the sky. More clouds the better. Safe for camera, safe for eyes and wonderful eye treat.


Sunset and sunrise times are also known as the golden times for photography. Even starters get startling results. As this tree which stands in nice contrast in the dim light of the sunset.

I have done a few crops on all the pictures posted here. They are purely not inspirational as they are far from good but as I am looking for the methods to make my next sunset snaps better, this whole post might be helpful for some of you who might want to pick up the camera.

And last tip I would like to add is sit back and enjoy the pics you take. See the deeper meaning in it. Atleast you can tell people that you already imagined it and then only you took that particular pic. Here's one where I imagine it as the eye and as you know I had this in my mind before taking the pic :)