Shooting sunsets

[katekev04]

Hello, I have a Canon EOS xti and shoot in manual. I would like to know how I can shoot sunsets and just regular photos of the clouds without having too much white or "blown out" I'm new at this and would like to know what settings would be used on a sunny day.

[Gibbo]

Underexposing usually works out best for bringing out the colours in a sunset..

[katekev04]

I've been having problems with shooting people with the sky being a backdrop-At the beach-the people come out very dark. This might be a simple fix but i have no clue on how to fix it.

[Roy Mathers]

You need fill-in flash.

[katekev04]

So, I should have used a flash then reduced it?

[Roy Mathers]

Yes, but there's a bit more to it than that. Have a search through this forum for fill-in flash - or you could Google 'fill-in flash with EOS cameras'. There's a whole lot of information out there!

[katekev04]

Thanks for your help.

[blackcap]

Unless your flash can light up all your foreground, I would say a better approach is to use graduated ND filters and/or bracket your exposures so that you can blend them during PP.

[Roy Mathers]

It's not easy to bracket exposures with people - and and ND would light up the whole of the foreground, not just the person/people, which is what the OP wants. The flash doesn't have to light up the whole of the foreground - just the subject.

[Digital_zen]

With sunset/sunrise images you can't really go wrong either way, underexpose for richer colors or overexpose for a more subdued pastel palette.

[blackcap]

It's not easy to bracket exposures with people - and and ND would light up the whole of the foreground, not just the person/people, which is what the OP wants. The flash doesn't have to light up the whole of the foreground - just the subject.

Yeah sorry, did not read her second post! :oops:

[mazewing]

use ND grad filters. Or you could try to different exposures and blend them into a HDR image.

[Roy Mathers]

This has already been suggested - but you should look at the OP's original requirements re photographing a person.

[neilwood32]

Roys suggestion is the only one that will work - grad ND filters wont work.

The only thing to properly expose the people (assuming they are reasonably close to the camera) is to use flash to fill.

Meter for the background as you would normally and then put the camera on manual with those settings. Then set the flash level by taking a couple of photo's and chimping to determine the correct amount of FEC (flash exposure compensation) to dial in. If you dont know how to get FEC, check your manual or search in this forum for it.

Oh and unless the people are very close, you might need an external flash.

As for the clouds, if you underexpose by 2/3 - 1 stop, they should come up perfectly! Either that or use a circular polariser (which will emphasise the cloud detail)

[Canon Man 50d]

Can you damage your light meter in the camera taking sunsets ?

[Roy Mathers]

I doubt it very much.

[WaltA]

Some sunsets don't have a whole bunch of color.

Heres one from just 1/2 hour ago here off the beach

And not only that, the sunset was actually 10 degrees north of me - this was just reflections.

[Roy Mathers]

I can't see how this picture is relevant to the OP's question about photographing people in front of a sunset. (By the way, Walt, you might want to straighten the horizon in the picture).

[WaltA]

I can't see how this picture is relevant to the OP's question about photographing people in front of a sunset. (By the way, Walt, you might want to straighten the horizon in the picture).

I'm sorry Roy, my point, in case you missed it, was that sometimes people come out vary dark - and in my opinion it took nothing away from my picture.

Thats exactly what the OP was asking about. It has a sunset and has people in the foreground.

Not sure what your problem is.

[Roy Mathers]

No problem - it's just that I don't think that it's what the OP was asking about (I'm guessing). Your person (people) are merely silhouettes in this picture (and I wouldn't say that they are exactly in the foreground), but I think the OP was after portraits with the sunset in the background. If this is the case, as I mentioned earlier, the only alternative is to use fill-in flash.

[WaltA]

True enough. The OP had posts 1 and 3 - 1 talking about sunsets without white or blown out and 3 about people at the beach with the sky as a backdrop. When I read those 2 posts I didn't think portrait - I thought it referred to landscape/sunset with people.

Either way, I think theres good insight in this thread.

[Traumuh]

It's not easy to bracket exposures with people - and and ND would light up the whole of the foreground, not just the person/people, which is what the OP wants. The flash doesn't have to light up the whole of the foreground - just the subject.

You can merge the people from one exposure into another using masks. ;)

[darkcbr1000rr]

+1 with Roy
Flash fill and Rear curtain sync, 2nd curtain sync, or Rear flash sync.