I read a statistic recently that said sunsets are the single most commonly photographed subjects. I don't doubt it; as I peer into the mailbag, I find that this week alone I have eight sunset photos competing for the Hot Pic of the Week prize.
Since so many of us are shooting sunsets, I thought it might be fun to talk about how to get a good sunset shot, and to use Hot Pic entries as examples. So this week and next, we'll discuss the nuts and bolts of sunset photography--and see some readers' photos along the way.
In theory, sunsets should be easy to photograph for one very simple reason: We always know exactly what time they will occur. That lets you plan ahead, get there early, and capture the magic moment. And if at first you don't succeed, you can always go back and try again the next day. Need to know the exact time of sunset? There are several ways to find out, but you might want to consult the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Just enter the day you want to know about and specify your location, or a city nearby (the site has a lot of locations in its database, but not every small town).
There are two things about timing to consider when planning your sunset photo. First, the exact time the sun sets, the moment that the sun drops below the horizon, depends upon your local landscape. In other words, sunset might come earlier than the published time if the sun is blocked by mountains before it has a chance to reach the horizon. Second, you have a quite generous time period in which to take sunset photos. The sky starts looking interesting as the sun approaches the horizon, and continues to look pretty cool for a short time after the sun goes down. In practice, I've found that this adds up to a half hour or so of usable shooting time.
Your photos can range from very early sunsets, like the sublime "Sentinel Tree" by Michael Bale of Wheeling, Illinois, to late sunsets like "Still Reflection" by Justin Agoglia of Huntington, New York.
Notice that the sky is far more dramatically red in the second photo, where the sun has reached the horizon. So here's a plan for your next sunset photography session: Relax, enjoy the scenery, and take a couple of pictures every few minutes so you can capture the changing light over the course of 15 or 30 minutes. Sunsets change quickly, and you are sure to get some very different results by continuing to take pictures.
In fact, waiting can make all the difference in the world, as the sun drops through the sky and peeks through different clouds. Consider "Angelic Sunset" by Wes Singletary of Indian Shores, Florida. Wes managed to capture not only some gorgeous light rays piercing the clouds, but also a lone bird flying through the scene. Getting a shot like this no doubt took some patience.
That's a look at timing your sunset shots, but there's a lot more to discuss. I'll continue next week, with information about camera exposure and white balance settings, plus everything you need to know to compose a good sunset photo.
William Wegman is one of the world's most famous animal photographers. The portraits of his wiry weimaraners are world famous and have appeared in books, calendars, museums, and art galleries. Even if you're not a dog person, it's hard not to feel drawn to his photos.
If you want to see and read more, visit Wegman's Web site. (Note: Wegman's site is undergoing a redesign, and might be unavailable. But be sure to bookmark it and try again later.)
Q&A: How Do You Make Two-Dimensional Panoramas?I love the work of James Balog, who pastes many images of trees together to make one large composite. I have tested many panoramic applications for digital images, but I have not found one that will allow you to stitch images in two dimensions, say 3 wide by 2 tall, rather than just three or more across. Do you know of any applications that will allow you to do this kind of multidimensional stitching?
Absolutely, Jack: Microsoft's Digital Image Suite includes a superb panoramic stitch feature that combines any number of photos in both dimensions. And as an added bonus, you don't even need to arrange them into a grid first--the program figures out the arrangement all on its own. You can find Digital Image Suite for about $90 at
Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.
Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.
About this week's photo, Suzanne says: "This is a picture of my daughter, Lily, swinging on her tummy in our front yard. I took it because Lily loves to swing and I wanted to capture her doing one of her favorite things. I played around with the Curves tool in Photoshop until I got something fun and a little funky. I wanted to play up the blue of the house in the background and the pink of her shirt to make it more striking, so I used the hue/saturation tool to do that. I took the picture with a Canon Digital Rebel."
Dave Johnson
