Tips needed for shooting sunset/moonrise

[ScottW]

I am going to go out & shoot my first "project" tonight with my new 10D. I am going to try & get some good sunset/moonrise photos.

I found a great website to calculate the exact times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise & moonset.
It is: http://www.sunrisesunset.com/custom_srss_calendar.asp


Beside using a tripod & lots of bracketing any other suggestions? I have a 24-70 2.8L so I am not expecting to get a large image of the moon. I just want to get the moon coming up with a nice sunset glow off the McDowell Mountains.

Any tips? Thanks

[cmM]

graduated ND filter, if you want to expose both the foreground and the sky correctly (without, you're running out of dynamic range)

Or regular ND filter / multiple exposures.

[DocFrankenstein]

Or polarizer...

[cmM]

Or polarizer...
So you're saying that you get the same result from using a polarizer compared to using a ND filter ?

:roll:

[Webster]

Scott, How did you do? Any luck with your first project?

[Andy_T]

Or polarizer...
So you're saying that you get the same result from using a polarizer compared to using a ND filter ?

:roll:


YES ... A polarizer will have a similar effect as a ND filter (take away some light)

... but not as a graduated ND filter (top is dark, bottom is light), that was proposed for sunsets :twisted:

Best regards,
Andy

[cmM]

YES ... A polarizer will have a similar effect as a ND filter (take away some light)

... but not as a graduated ND filter (top is dark, bottom is light), that was proposed for sunsets :twisted:

Not quite !

The ND is for reducing the amount of light and the polarizer is for reducing reflections.

They both reduce light (more or less) but ND filters do not help in any way with reflections.

[Andy_T]

Not quite !


You are absolutely right.

That's why I used the word 'similar', and not 'same'. Sorry I didn't phrase it clearly enough.

For Scott's target (shoot photos against the sun) one of the aims was to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor.

If you do have a polarizer, but not a ND filter, it can help you.

However, a graduated ND filter might be a lot better, as it allows you to keep the ground light and darken the sky a bit.

Of course, most things you can do with a graduated (or normal) ND filter, you can also do in Photoshop (unless there is way too much light).

You definitely can't do the things that a circular polarizer does (e.g. reduce glare) in Photoshop.

Best regards,
Andy

[DocFrankenstein]

Or polarizer...
So you're saying that you get the same result from using a polarizer compared to using a ND filter ?

:roll:
No need to roll eyes. I'm not saying anything.

The thread is named "Tips needed for shooting sunset/moonrise". IMO a polarizer is really good for photograhphing sunrises, cause it make the skies look much more dramatic than they really are.

I tried it - it worked. Doesn't mean it's gonna help much achieving proper sky/ground exposure.

Example: http://starvingartistsgallery.com/uploads/333/IMG_2450.jpg

[Persian-Rice]

I dont think it has been mentioned, but what about a warming filter? 81's I think

[robertwgross]

If you want to try something interesting, try shooting about 45-60 minutes before sunrise. There is not a lot of light in the sky, but what little light there is has a lot of color in it. If you can set up on a stiff tripod and shoot for a long enough time, the lack of light intensity is made up by the color intensity. Your eye doesn't see the color much when the light intensity is so low, but the camera can capture it.

My favorite time is when the sun is still behind the horizon, but its light is shining onto the clouds that are visible. It helps to get up to some mountain top where there are few distractions on the horizon.

As the rising sun approaches the horizon, the light intensity will begin changing more rapidly, so I bracket exposures then.

---Bob Gross---