Understanding Natural Light Part 1: Quality of Light

 Tags: Photography for Beginners, Light

 

By: Oded Wagenstein 

Light has different qualities, and by understanding those differences and using them in your favor, you can become a better image maker. From my point of view, the best place to start improving your ability to work with light is by learning its most basic form, which is natural light.

Therefore, this article is the first of a series that will focus on understanding how to work with natural light. We will:

• Explore the difference between harsh (hard) and soft lighting and each of their pros and cons.
• Understand how to use color to serve the visual story we want to portray.
• Learn how the direction and intensity of light affects the final image.

Even if you are a studio photographer, who wishes to work exclusively with strobes and flash, this article is crucial for you. If you manage to understand how to work with natural light, this knowledge can be later applied to any genre or style of photography. As a portrait photographer, in my explanation and examples, I will focus on working with natural light in portraits. However, as mentioned, once you understand the concept, this can be applied to any genre or subject.

George Eastman, the American entrepreneur that founded Kodak (and who probably knew a thing or two about photography), said, “Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. However, above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.”

What do you think that Mr. Eastman meant by “know light. Know it for all you are worth.”? From my point of view, he meant that as photographers, light is our raw material. It is like letters to the writer and notes to the musician, and as photographers, we must understand how this raw material works and behaves under different conditions.

Quality of light – Understanding hard and soft light

In this first chapter we will:

• Understand the differences between soft and hard (or harsh) light.
• Explore the concept of “Good Light” versus “Bad Light.”
• Learn about common challenges faced when working with natural light, and how to overcome them.
• Suggest exercises that you can use to practice the explained concepts and techniques.

Soft lighting

Soft light is characterized by low levels of light, lack of shadows, a small and gentle difference between dark and bright areas.

Soft lighting situation is characterized by the lack of shadows and (as you can see in this image), cold hues during cloudy weather, which fit the greens and blues in this situation.

When does it happen? Depends on the weather and your location on the globe (it won’t happen at the North Pole, during winter), but you will usually encounter a soft lighting situation, at the edges of the day (also referred to the Golden Hours), just after sunrise and just before sunset (how much time before and after, is again dependent on your location). Besides the edges of the day, you can find soft lighting conditions under a cloudy or overcast sky.

Challenges: Soft light is not suitable for every portrait, it all depends on what you wish to evoke (in terms of emotion and mood) in your image, as I will describe later. Another issue is the level of light, which may be too low. So, it is very important that you pay attention to your shutter speed and increase it manually, to avoid blurriness.

Hard/harsh lighting

Hard light is characterized by strong levels of light, long and deep shadows, a big difference between dark and bright areas (high dynamic range). Because of contrast, harsh light will strengthen the current situation in the field, in terms of color. Saturated and rich colors will seem even more intense, and dull colors will seem even more so.

In harsh light, there is a huge contrast between the dark and bright areas in the image and details might get too bright or too dark – but this is perfectly fine!

When do you have hard light? It also depends on the weather and location, but usually, you can encounter harsh lighting situations during the day, about two hours after sunrise, until one hour before sunset (middle of the day).

Challenges: the main problem with the harsh lighting is the huge difference between the dark and bright areas (also known as contrast). Contrary to our sophisticated eyes, the camera is (still) not able to cope with this difference. So, the result will be the loss of details in your image, as they become too bright or too dark. For example, you might get a great exposure on your subject while losing detail in the background or vice versa.

Some photographers mistakenly think that this condition (the loss of details) is due to an error they made in operating their camera. So, the first step to the solution is to understand the problem. If you are shooting under harsh light, that lost of details is something that you cannot change (unless you use flash or post-process the image), because it is due to the contrast between the dark and the bright areas. So, changing the aperture, shutter or ISO, won’t help correct it.

“The artist vocation is to send light into the human heart.” – Robert Schumann

Forget about “good” lighting

Due to the challenges I have mentioned, most photographers avoid shooting under harsh lighting condition. They prefer to work under soft lighting, which is usually referred to as more pleasing to the eyes. However, it is not always the right choice for your portrait.

That day in the streets of Havana was extremely hot. So, I used the harsh light to evoke that sense.

The thing to remember is that you want to match the light to the visual story you want the portrait to tell. As we just learned, each lighting condition has its own qualities and characteristics. While the soft light from a setting sun might be best for a romantic couple’s photoshoot, it may be less suitable for a portrait of a hardworking man outdoors. Let’s stop using the concepts of good and bad lighting, and start thinking in terms of more suitable, or less suitable lighting.

Planning

To work under the most suitable lighting conditions, you should plan for it instead of just wishing for it. Check the weather forecast, as well as the sunrise and sunset times. For example, if you need soft lighting for your project, you should know exactly where to be, and what to do around sunrise and sunset every day. Do not waste even a minute on sleeping when there is suitable light out there.

1. Matching the time of day to desired mood – You should choose the most suitable time to go out and work, according to your desired results.

2. Matching the visual story to the given lighting conditions – I often choose the visual story, according to the available light given to me on location.

Flexibility

Sometimes even with careful planning, the weather changes and therefore, so does the natural lighting condition. That’s what happened to me when I was working on an assignment in southern Thailand. In a place known for pristine beaches and postcard-like islands, the mighty monsoon decided to make an appearance and show everyone who’s boss. At first I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to provide the images that I had in mind to my editor.

However, I know one thing for sure: you cannot fight the light. So I changed my plans and headed to the small village of the Chao Leh (Sea Gypsies) community. This visit (which ultimately became a seven-year project), allowed me to discover a different, much less touristy side, of that area. I discovered a story about a struggling community of sea drifters, that never fully recovered from the tsunami of 2004.

The Chao Leh (Sea Gypsies) community in southern Thailand. The stormy weather, with its soft, 

low, blue-colored light gave the images a sense of “cold winter,” which was a perfect match to 

the feeling I wanted to evoke in that story.

A few days later, the clouds gave way to the sun and I was back to my original shooting list. When I sent the images back to my editor, she was thrilled with the new direction and decided to run a full story about this community.

“What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.” – John Berger

In conclusion, do not limit yourself to working exclusively under soft light, as both harsh and soft light summon great challenges and opportunities. As a visual storyteller, aim to always try and match the story you are trying to tell, to the light you are using, to bring that visual story to your viewers. The key element is planning, with a bit of flexibility, and some room for serendipity.

Practice working with quality of light

Exercise #1 – using over exposure compensation while working with a harsh light condition.

• Time: A sunny afternoon.
• Location: Any outdoor location – from your backyard to the local park.
• Step one: Place your favorite model (it can be a friend, a family member, your partner, or a beloved dog) under the midday sun.
• Step two: Take a moment to understand how the light illuminates your subject’s face. Do you notice the high contrast between dark and bright areas (lit forehead versus dark eyes)?
• Step three: Work in Aperture Priority mode (A in Nikon and AV in Canon), and use exposure compensation (overexpose), until you manage to bring more light to your subject’s eyes. Don’t panic, as you will probably burn out (lose details) the background, and parts of the subject’s face. It is okay. This exercise is about being able to stop reviewing your images through the histogram tool and highlight alerts, and start thinking in terms of story, and if that story is working or not.

Harsh light helped me to create a sense of “roughness” in this portrait, which I felt that support the visual story I wanted to tell.

Exercise #2 – switch to black and white while working under soft light conditions.

• Time: A cloudy day or the edges of the day.
• Location: Any outdoor location – from your backyard to the local park.
• Step one: Approach a stranger and ask his or her permission for a portrait. Perhaps you can send the final image by email as a token of appreciation.
• Step two: Switch to Monochrome mode, which is black and white photography (under Picture Style in Canon and Picture Control in Nikon).
• Step three: Take a close-up portrait (torso and face only). Note how the light gradually illuminates the subject’s face, creating soft pockets of shadows that evoke a sense of depth.

 

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Anatomy of a Subject

Tags: Photography for Beginners, Silhouette

 

By: Jeff Guyer 

So much of what we do is defined by the elements that embody the concept.  The three elements of the exposure triangle help us understand “proper” exposure.  Every light source has three distinct qualities (color, quality, direction).  Even the physical tools at our disposal can be broken down to a simple trifecta– light, lens, and camera.  Being able to break something down into its components helps the beginner by giving them a road map– a series of steps that simplifies the process and makes it easier to understand.  With enough repetition, that same road map becomes a mental checklist for the more advanced photographer.  Over time, that checklist hopefully just becomes second nature.  That photographer might not actually be thinking “foreground, subject, background” each time they compose an image in the viewfinder, but the elements are present, both in the planning and execution of the shot.  Taking this concept of breaking down composition a step further, we can even break down the subjects in our images into distinct visual components.

SHAPE or OUTLINE

Perhaps one of the most fundamental of these components is shape.  Regardless of whether we are photographing people, buildings, landscapes, or any of the other endless possibilities, every subject has shape.  Definition.  It can be subtle or dramatic, but everything we photograph is defined to a certain extent by its outline.  The most graphic representation of shape comes from a back-lit silhouette or underexposure, either of which draws less attention to individual features and more to the overall shape of the subject.  While this photo of a boxer is very brightly lit from the side, the high contrast lighting and black background combine to engage the viewer with a strong emphasis on the shape and outline of the subject.  In a more classic silhouette, the sax player was lit completely from behind.  The soft, wraparound quality of the light does bring out a bit of detail in the instrument, but the visual emphasis rests primarily on the shape and outline of the musician, creating an entirely different overall feel to the image.

Obviously, high contrast and silhouette are not the only ways to illustrate the shape of a subject.  As noted, everything that comes in front of our camera has shape.  How and to what extent you choose to highlight it relies on how you choose to place it in your frame.  The photograph of the staircase was taken for an ABC project entirely because of its shape, while the radiator grill of the 1938 MG has multiple shapes and lines which draw the viewer’s eye into the photo from top to bottom.

COLOR & TONE

While color often grabs our attention first, sometimes we take the extra steps to actually plan for it.  Bright and bold.  Soft and muted.  Contrasting or Complementing.  In the portrait of the boy with the football helmet, the bright red obviously grabs your attention and draws you in.  In the low-key portrait on the right, however, it was the darker tones and color palette that caught my interest.

FORM & TEXTURE

When we start introducing light and shading across a subject we produce various qualities of shape, shifting lines, and intensity of color.  While our silhouette primarily emphasizes a subject’s two-dimensional  shape, it is “form” that best describes the three-dimensional qualities of a subject.  Form gives substance, depth, and definition to the silhouette– bringing it out of the shadows and into the foreground.  Here is where the combination of light, color, and shadow combine to create texture in our images.  In each of the images below, the form and textures are created and accentuated not only by the composition, but also by the way the light falls across the subject.

As is the case with things like the exposure triangle  or characteristics of light, the extent to which each of these is emphasized in any given photo is going to rely heavily on the photographer and how they express their personal vision and individual style, as well as the mood they are trying to convey and the story they are trying to tell.  In virtually every situation, however, one of these components plays a huge role in making a photographer stop in their tracks and say, “I need to photograph that.”  Share this article.

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5 Secrets to Create a Perfect Silhouette Portrait Outdoors

Tags: Photography for Beginners, Silhouettes

 

By: Alana Orth

1) SHOOT LOW AND HEAD TO TOE

Place the subject’s entire body, from head to toe, against the sky. In order to do this, you will need to be lower than the subject. You can do this by laying on your back, or stomach, while taking the shot.

If you are unable to get low enough, you may need to have your subjects get higher, such as on the very top of a rock, small hill or sand dune. This will hopefully allow you, in most circumstances, to get an angle that places the subject’s entire outline against the sky. You can see a variety of landscapes utilized in the examples below.

Hint: It’s so, so, SO important that their feet are against the sky! Legs in a silhouette portrait that are cut off above the feet look like weird, short stumps. If you can’t find a suitably spot at a location, you can play with silhouettes of a closer composition.

2) IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING

Silhouettes work best around 20-30 minutes before sunset. However, it does vary with the angle you are able to achieve – the greater the height difference between you and the subject(s), the earlier you will need to take the shot.

If you wait any longer, the sun will be hidden behind whatever your subjects are standing on, and the sky might not be bright enough to make a silhouette. If you do it too early, the sky’s colours can be a bit boring and you will be dealing with other issues, such as sun flare.

Tip: Silhouettes can be taken earlier before sunset if the sun is partially blocked or filtered through strong clouds.

3) SILHOUETTE SETTINGS ARE SIMPLE

Set your camera to Aperture Priority (AV) mode, with an aperture of f/2.8, and ISO of 400. Have Evaluative Metering selected, which means that the camera will take into account the whole scene when deciding how to find a balanced exposure.

If you fill the frame with your subjects’ faces or bodies, then the camera will expose for their skin, even with a bright background (see example below).

If you fill the frame mostly with a very bright sky, than the camera will expose for the bright sky, brining out the natural sunset colors and making everything else in the photograph dark.

So, if you place your subject directly against the sky (bright), than the subject (which is darker) will be heavily underexposed. The result – a silhouette!

Both photographs were taken on the exact same setting mentioned above, only seconds apart. The difference? Composition, and what is filling the frame – subject or sky.

4) SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT POSING IS SPECIFIC

Silhouettes are very forgiving of poor facial expressions (simply because you cannot see them), but very harsh when it comes to outlines. After taking each shot, check to make sure that nothing looks odd in the photograph.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when posing subjects in a silhouette:

1. Hugging poses do not work – A hug silhouette looks like a great big blob monster. All subjects need to be clearly defined, which means they need to be at least a couple of inches apart from each other. It’s nice for subjects to still be connected, through holding hands, or kissing, but their bodies should still be defined.
2. Have your clients look away from camera – It’s much nicer and more natural to have poses where the faces are profiled.
3. Watch the clothing – Very baggy clothing will not work as well for a silhouette, as the shape can become unflattering. It is best for females to wear dresses or skirts in silhouettes, as it brings a feminine shape and helps clearly define them against the male’s figure. – Very baggy clothing will not work as well for a silhouette, as the shape can become unflattering. It is best for females to wear dresses or skirts in silhouettes, as it brings a feminine shape and helps clearly define them against the male’s figure.

5) SILHOUETTES SELL

Try to capture at least one silhouette at every photo shoot, whether it is a family portrait, maternity, engagement or wedding. Why? Because they sell!

Here are some reasons why clients love to purchase silhouettes:

• Silhouettes add variety to your shoot. Silhouettes are so different in nature, in their colouring and style, that the variety they give instantly makes any shoot more interesting and saleable. As the silhouette is quite unique from all other photographs, it also makes it easy to sell individually as a unique piece of artwork.
• Silhouettes are perfect for shy clients. Some clients hate the idea of their faces hanging up on their walls, making silhouettes the perfect objection handler. As the focus of the photograph is not on the subjects’ faces at all, it can be marketed to them as the perfect piece of personalized artwork, without battling their self-conscious nature.
• Silhouettes look better bigger! If you capture silhouettes on a wide composition, it’s all too easy to sell them as very large piece of artwork. Because the subjects are relatively small within the frame, silhouettes can encourage a larger, more impressive piece of artwork for the client and a more profitable sale for you.

We hope this guide gives you the confidence to go out and try your own silhouettes.  Share this article.

 

 

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How to Create Powerful Silhouettes by Telling a Story

 Tags: Photography for Beginners, Silhouettes

 

By: Craig Colvin

Telling the Story

Silhouettes remove all the distractions and clutter in the scene and distill the image down to its most basic, this is why the story is so important. Just using shapes you must make a photo that is recognizable, and that the viewer can relate to. While this sounds easy in practice, it can be difficult to achieve. You must have the right elements. The light needs to be in the right location, the subject needs to be facing the right way, and they need to be in a pose that makes their action recognizable.

Movement by the subject helps tell a strong story in your silhouettes

Tips for creating good silhouettes that tell a story

Clean outlines

If you have multiple objects that are back-lit you want to make sure there is separation between the objects so that each one is distinct and recognizable.

Profiles or straight on shots work well

For people, profiles or straight on shots work best. For profiles you should be able to clearly make out the shape of the nose and chin on their face. For straight on shots the subject’s arms should be away from their body, and their legs parted so you can see both legs and not just a single blob. Recognizable shapes – this is important for every silhouette.

Capturing action

Movement in your subject can create strong lines and positions that are instantly recognized by the viewer and help convey the story of what the subject is doing.

Props

The added hat and cane help enhance the story in this image

Props can help tell the story, an outline of a flower, a tip of a hat can add meaning to the image.

Interaction between subjects

Having multiple subjects can be challenging because you want to minimize overlap of their shapes so they each maintain their own identity. There is a balance between telling the story and having the subjects interact in a minimal way. For example holding hands or kissing often work well, but a hug results in silhouette that is just a big black blob.

Separation between subjects is important. This image would be stronger if the man’s leg did not merge with the camera and tripod

Lighting for Silhouettes

To light a silhouette you need to light the subject from behind. The type of light is not important; it can be natural or artificial and can be direct or indirect. The important thing is that the lighting is behind the subject, and the subject is not lit. Technically silhouetting occurs when you have a lighting ratio of 16:1 or greater (4 stops), however I will describe how you can create a silhouette in post-production using lower lighting ratios.

Natural Silhouette Lighting

One of the most common types of silhouettes using natural lighting is to place the subject between the camera and the setting sun or moon. Your camera exposure should be set for the background lighting, either the sunset or moon, and this will cause the subject to appear black against the light background. Another common technique is to use the light reflected off of a wall or the side of a building.

This lighted wall in Las Vegas provides great back-lighting for silhouettes

Studio Silhouette Lighting

There are two common techniques for creating silhouettes using studio strobes. The first is to use a white background and bounce the strobes off the background. The second is to point the strobes towards the camera and place the subject between the strobes and the camera. This second technique can also produce a light flare in the image which can give an interesting effect.

Post-processing techniques

If you have a backlit subject, but can still see some detail in the subject you can often make it a pure silhouette in Lightroom, or Camera RAW. Use the develop module in Lightroom and adjust the Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, and Blacks sliders. Use different combinations to darken the subject. Typically you will need to increase Contrast and decrease one, or all of the other three sliders. Either the Shadow or Blacks slider should be set to -100, try both to see which produces the desired effect. Decreasing Highlights is typically only necessary if the edges of the subject are lit and you wish to make them darker.

Silhouettes are a fun and easy to do and by concentrating on the story being told you can create an image that has impact.  Share this article.

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How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps

 Tags: Photography for Beginners, Sillhouettes

 

By: Darren Rowse 

I normally talk about the importance of using a flash when taking shots into the sun to give sufficient light to add features to your subject but there are also times when making your subject featureless apart from their outline against a bright background can be most effective – or when in other words silhouette is a worth exploring.

 

Silhouettes are a wonderful way to convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood to the viewers of your photos and often stand out in an album because of the combination of their simplicity but also the story that they convey. I love them because they don’t give the viewer of a clear picture of everything but leave part of the image up to their imagination to wonder about.

 

The basic strategy you’ll need to employ in taking silhouette shots is to place your subject (the shape you want to be blacked out) in front of some source of light and to force your camera to set its exposure based upon the brightest part of your picture (the background) and not the subject of your image.

In doing this your subject will be under exposed (and very dark, if not black).

There are a lot of very technical descriptions going around on how to take great silhouette shots that you might want to look up but let me attempt to run through some basic steps that should get you the results you’re after. In essence what we’re trying to do is make your camera think that it’s the bright parts of the picture you are most interested in.

Here’s how to do it:

How to Photograph Silhouettes

1. Choose a Strong Subject

Almost any object can be made into a silhouette, however some are better than others. Choose something with a strong and recognizable shape that will be interesting enough in its two dimensional form to hold the interest of those viewing your image. Silhouettes can’t draw on the colors, textures and tones of subjects to make them appealing – so the shape needs to be distinct.

2. Turn off your Flash

If you have your camera in automatic mode your camera will probably want to use its flash which will ruin the silhouette. Basically you want as little light on the front of your subject as possible – so the flash has to go (basic – but I’ve seen a few attempted silhouette shots with the flash firing).

3. Get Your Light Right

When it comes to lighting your subject you’ll need to throw out a lot of what you’ve learnt about normal photography and think a little backwards. Instead of lighting the front of your subject, in silhouettes you need to ensure that there is more light shining from the background than the foreground of your shot – or to put it another way – you want to light the back of your subject rather than the front. The perfect light for this is placing your subject in front of a sunset or sunrise – but really any bright light will be able to do the trick.

4. Frame your image

Frame your shot so you are shooting with your subject in front of a nice plain, but bright background. Usually the best backgrounds will be a bright cloudless sky with the sun setting. You want to position the brightest light source behind your subject (either so that they hide it or so that its in the background somewhere).

5. Make silhouetted shapes distinct and uncluttered

If there is more than one shape or object in the image that you’re attempting to silhouette, try to keep them separated. ie if you are silhouetting a tree and a person don’t have the person stand in front of the tree or even leaning on it as it will merge them into one shape and as a result your viewers could be confused about what the shape is.

Also when framing you’ll probably want to photograph silhouetted people as profiles rather than looking straight on. This means that more of their features (nose, mouth, eyes) are outlined and they are more likely to be recognized.

6. In Auto Mode

Most modern digital cameras have automatic metering which are pretty good at sensing how to expose a photograph so that everything is well lit. The problem with this is that most cameras are so smart that they will light up your subject instead of underexposing it to get a silhouette so you need to trick it. Most cameras work out the exposure levels in auto mode when you push your shutter half way down (at the same time that they focus). So point your camera at the brightest part of your picture and then press the shutter halfway down (don’t let go). Then move your camera back to frame your shot with the subject where you want it and then finish taking the shot. With most digital cameras this will result in a silhouetted subject. In effect what you’re doing is tricking your camera into thinking that the bright part of the image is the mid tone of it so that anything darker than it will be exposed as a nice dark shadow.

Some digital cameras also have ‘spot’ or ‘centered’ metering modes that you can switch on which helps with the above technique as they will set the metering on the central spot of your frame rather than multiple spots. This means you can accurately tell your camera exactly which bit of the bright background you want it to set the exposure on.

7. Manual Mode

If this technique doesn’t work and your camera has controls to allow manual exposure or exposure compensation you might like to try some of your own settings. The beauty of digital is that you can experiment to your hearts content until you get the result you’re after.

A simple way to start using manual mode is to look at the shutter speed and aperture that it suggests in automatic mode and to start from there. If in auto mode your subject is too light (ie you need to make it darker) stop down the shutter speed a stop or two and see what impact that has. Use the ‘bracketing’ technique that I described in my previous tip on sunrises and sunsets to get a variety of shots at slightly different exposures.

8. Focusing

In most cases you’ll want the subject which is silhouetted to be the thing that is in focus most crisply. This can mean that the process described in point 4 can be a little tricky as pushing your shutter half way down to get the metering right also means that you’ll focus on that spot in the background. To get around this you can use two strategies. Firstly if your camera has manual focusing you might want to try that. Pre focus your shot before you meter your shot.

The other strategy is to use Aperture to maximize your depth of field (the amount of your image that is in focus). Set a small aperture (ie a larger number) to increase the depth of field – this means you’re more likely to have a sharper foreground and background in your shots.

One last tip on how to photograph Silhouettes – while a total silhouette with a nice crisp and black subject can be a powerful shot, also consider the partial silhouette where some detail of your subject is left. Sometimes a touch of light on them makes them slightly more three dimensional and ‘real’. This is the beauty of bracketing your shots as it will leave you with total and partial silhouettes to choose form.

UPDATE: Check out these 12 Amazing Silhouette Example Shots.

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5 Tips For Photographing Silhouettes

Tags: Photography for Beginners, Sunset

by Steve Berardi   

 

Photographing a silhouette is a great way to capture the dramatic colors of a sunrise or sunset, and to emphasize the shape of something.

The basic idea with a silhouette is to photograph something that’s backlit by the Sun (or some other light source), so your subject shows up completely black in the image. This really helps highlight the shape of your subject, so silhouettes work great for a variety of subjects: people, plants, and even big piles of rocks.

Although they’re usually simple-looking images, there’s a few things you should keep in mind when photographing silhouettes:

1. Concentrate on your subject’s shape

Silhouettes are all about emphasizing the shape of your subject, so when you’re looking for something to photograph as a silhouette, concentrate on shape: is the subject well balanced? can you tell what it is just by it’s shape? Sometimes the things that look boring during the day will make great subjects for silhouettes, so focus on the subject’s form and structure–that’s what you’re trying to capture with a silhouette.

2. Find your subject well before sunrise or sunset

Since the colors change so quickly during sunrise and sunset, it’s a good idea to scout out your subject well ahead of time, so you’re prepared for the most dramatic colors. Plan on being in place and having everything set up at least a half hour before sunrise or sunset, and be prepared to stay at least a half hour after sunrise or sunset. It’s extremely difficult to predict when the most dramatic colors will occur, so it’s good to be there for the entire show 🙂

3. Be aware of your surroundings

Although the most dramatic colors usually occur on the horizon where the Sun is rising or setting, it’s also possible for the best colors to be at the opposite horizon, or even straight up in the sky! It really depends on the clouds, so to ensure you capture the best colors, keep looking around while the Sun is setting or rising and be prepared to move your camera and tripod in a hurry.

4. Shoot at sunrise to avoid the wind

One of the biggest problems you’ll face when photographing silhouettes of plants is wind. Since you’ll be shooting in low light, a slight breeze will shake the plant enough to cause a blurry photo. One way to prevent this is to shoot at sunrise instead of sunset. The air is usually much calmer in the morning than in the afternoon.

5. Consider daytime silhouettes too

Most silhouettes are shot during sunrise or sunset, but it’s also possible to capture some great silhouettes during the middle of the day. Remember, all you need is something that’s backlit, so as long as you can photograph something with the Sun directly behind it, you’ll have an opportunity to capture a silhouette. People or plants make great subjects for daytime silhouettes.

What did I miss?

If you have another tip for photographing silhouettes, please share it by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

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Tips for Doing More Spectacular Sunset Photography

Tags: Photography for Beginners, Colors, Sky, Sunsets 

By: Yacine Bessekhouad

The first thing I was told to do when I wanted to learn how to photograph landscapes and cityscapes, was to always shoot during the sunset. I have always asked myself why, but the answer is actually pretty easy. You get amazing colors in the sky, dramatic clouds, and soft light.

You can photograph the most beautiful place in the world and I can guarantee you, it will look much better during the sunset. The only problem with this mindset, is that you will never take another image in the middle of the day. If I find a really cool spot to photograph, but there won’t be any sunset anytime soon, my go to option is to create a desaturated long exposure. The second option is to come back another day.

In this article, I am going to give you some tips on how to shoot sunsets to get the best results possible. These tips can also be applied to photographing a sunrise, if you have the energy to wake up at 5am and go outside.

How to predict the best sunsets

Depending on where you live, the sunset will be different. You can’t really predict a nice sunset, but there are some signs that can help you decide wether you should go out and give it a try or not. Of course, I would recommend going out and photographing all the time, but if you’re a busy person and do not want to go back home frustrated, then you should consider these few tips.

There are some areas in the world where sunsets are not vivid, and you won’t see any colors in the sky. For example, I have lived in the United Arab Emirates for a year and during that period I have only witnessed around 10 beautiful sunsets (no joke). However, when I go to the south of France, there is a dramatic and vivid sunset everyday.

One of the better sunsets in the United Arab Emirates. This is considered as an amazing sunset over there, but in reality it is just very average.

An amazing sunset in the south of France: I was really surprised because I got the same sunset five 

days in a row. and it wasn’t even summer.

There is a simple reason explaining this – clouds make all the difference. I am talking about patchy white clouds with a blue sky. These clouds will catch some amazing colors and give you the best results possible when the sun sets.

There were some patchy clouds in the sky, and during the sunset the colors turned out really nice in 

this image.

If there aren’t any clouds, then your sunset will be pretty boring. You will only have a nice gradient of color going from blue to orange.

Example of a sunset without any clouds.

I usually don’t bother going out when there is an overcast day to shoot sunsets, because the results are quite disappointing. The clouds cover the sky and you can’t see it, so you will end up having no colors at all.

If there is some light rain during the evening, then you can be pretty sure you will get an amazing sunset. I really can’t explain it, but trust me, it works all the time.

Planning and patience

Planning is the most important thing, I would recommend going to the location around 30 minutes before the start of the sunset to compose your shot, especially if you don’t know the location.

With sunsets, the scene can change very very quickly. I highly recommend composing your shot, placing your camera on the tripod, and not moving until the sunset is totally finished.

Sometimes a nice color can appear on a cloud for only two minutes, and if you’re not ready then you won’t be able to photograph it. There is an app called Magic Hour which you can download on your mobile device (for iOS only) Based on your location, it will give you the time that magic hour begins, the time of the sunset, and the time it ends. It also does the same thing for the sunrise the next morning.

Note: you could also try the Photographer’s Ephemeris or PlanIt! apps.

With this information, you have the time to look around, try different compositions, and decide which one works best. I will repeat – once you find your composition, place your tripod, and do not move it. It’s better to have one good photo of a sunset then five different average ones.

You will stay behind your tripod for 30 minutes, taking an image every time the sunset changes, with the clouds moving and new colors appearing. It is quite frustrating, but at the end you will have the best composition possible, with an image of the best clouds, and the best colors of the whole evening.

I waited in the cold for one hour to photograph this sunset. At first it looked terrible, but it started developing very well. I ended up having some nice cotton candy looking clouds.

Lens and composition

I would recommend using a wide angle lens to capture the whole scene, if you’re going to compose your image to include some foreground, middle ground and background, which I highly recommend. This enables the viewer to position himself in the image, and it adds a good sense of depth. Also, try to make the sky or the foreground at least a third of the image.

The trees as the foreground, the Eiffel Tower as the middle ground, and the sky as the background, 

all give nice depth to this image.

If you cannot find that type of composition, then using a long lens can be a good alternative, while using the rule of thirds.

I could not find a good composition for this shot, so I used a long lens to compress everything. and 

composed it using the rule of thirds.

Composing my shot using the rule of thirds.

Settings and extra gear

A tripod is essential because you will want to shoot with an aperture between f/8 and f/13 for sharp images, and ISO 100 for the best image quality. This cuts down the light quite a lot, and you will end up having a slow shutter speed to compensate. To avoid any shaky images, use a tripod with a cable release or a two second timer.

I highly recommend exposing your images for the highlights (which means you are exposing for the sky). The rest of the image will be underexposed, but if you’re shooting in RAW you will be able to recover details in the shadows.

Another solution is to use a graduated neutral density filter that will cut down the light on your highlights in the sky, and keep your mid-tones and shadows well exposed.

A graduated filter that you can stack.

I usually leave my white balance on auto, because with RAW files I can take more time to change it on Lightroom. If you’re shooting JPEG, the white balance that works the best with sunsets is Shade or Cloudy. It gives a nice warm magenta color to the image, and makes the vivid colors in the sky pop more.

Polarizing filters are also a good alternative to recover details in the sky, and make the colors more saturated without any post-production.

Using manual focus can be useful if it gets too dark and your lens has trouble focusing by itself.

Get creative

For sunsets, in my opinion the best thing to do is to get creative – either do HDR or digital blending.

In both cases, it’s better to take three different exposures to get the full dynamic range of the scene. Especially because there will be a lot of contrast between the brights and the darks, it’s difficult to get all the details. You can merge the exposures automatically with a software, or manually with luminosity masks.

This sunset looks good, but because I did not shoot three different exposures you can see in the middle 

there are white pixels in the sky that I could not recover.

You can also get creative by doing long exposures and stretching the clouds. And of course you always have Photoshop and Lightroom to finish your art the way you like it.

This is an example of a creative sunset: I shot 3 different exposures, a 

long exposure of the clouds, a long exposure of the car trails one hour later, and 

merged everything on Photoshop to get the best of both worlds.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have any other sunset photography tips to share? Please do so, and share your images as well, in the comments below.  Share this article. 

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