beach sunset

[NJ]

a few more pics from the beach, was lucky to get a clear night and get these shots because it always seemed to cloud over at night.









Please C&C.

[Pa]

hello nathan nice shots,2&4 i like best.i think that i might have cropped a bit off the bottom of them, theres a bit of dark sand erea on the right that i think does nothing for them but thats just my thinking.
pa

[mudder]

G'day,

C&C's a comin'

When going for sunset shots you're better off waiting for the sun to start going below the horizon (or maybe behind a cloud), otherwise the dynamic range will be difficult to deal with, hence the blown highlights. You can see in these shots, the color looks as thought it's getting deeper and deeper as the sun gets lower and lower in the horizon. In the last one, it looks like another 5 minutes or so would have seen the sky light up with color. Did it?

Once the sun reaches or goes below the horizon, that's usually when the sky lights up with the warm colors. The best sunsets are possibly when there's high cloud cover and the sun's light is reflected off them from over the horizon.

I think sunset shots need something (almost anything, a sillohette, rocks or dead tree etc.) in the foreground to give the image something in the foreground.

Also, get there with plenty of time to find "your spot" before the sunset happens, because once it starts you've sometimes only got a few minutes til it's gone... In my recent thread (http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?t=15431) the color was only there for about 3-4 minutes. that's it, I nearly missed it because I was screwing around with the camera, looked up and DOH!

Sorry to be a pain, just trying to help

Cheers.

Oh, one more tip, when going to take sunset shots, take a torch with you as you're going to find your way back in the dark

[NJ]

hey andrew. thanks for the tips.
i kept taking photos throughout the sun going down and those seemed to be the most interesting to me. The sky didnt light up after it went below the horizon unfortunately. but here are a few more pics to give you an idea of what in ended up looking like.

and later...

and last

[mudder]

This one:


Is the pick of the bunch for me, lovely color and a strong foreground interest in the rock...

Have you tried taking two exposures a stop or so apart and blending in PP? It's really easy and only takes a tick, but need a tripod to do it well (or I do anyway)... Great for images with large dynamic range like sunsets, worth a play

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to stir you up about the wonky horizon

[NJ]

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to stir you up about the wonky horizon

haha, my Sony must have been the only one that i didnt correct in ps. lucky its not too bad.
yeh i used a tripod for these shots and im pretty sure i tried different exposures, i'll take a look later.

[mudder]

Yell out if you need a hand with merging, remember we still haven't had that photoshop pley...

[NJ]

oh yeh! that totally slipped my mind! sorry andrew! yeh we still need to have our ps play im doin year 12 this year, and it doesnt leave me with a lot of time over the weekends which really sucks, but yeh, we'll work something out soon enough. i should check up on the melbourne part of the forum more often to check if any mini-meets are happening.

[mudder]

...i should check up on the melbourne part of the forum more often to check if any mini-meets are happening.

Get thee to the Melbourne Zoo on the week-end of April 23 for fun and frivolity with animals

Check: http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?t=15210

or: http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?t=15283

[BT*ist]

Comments on the first three:

1. A bit too much white, there
2. I like it : "nuclear testing" comes to mind (boom!)
3. I like it alot : "The Eye of Sauron" - interesting vertical white slit in the sunlight. There's also a nice subtle secondary halo (I think). The ship on the horizon gives a bit of scale, and there is some foreground detail as well. Very cool.