Sunset, CC requested

Any suggestions on how to improve taking this kind of shot?

Another from this series.

It might have been interesting to try an HDR shot or two. I've never tried playing with the settings to see if the - side can be pulled over enough to have picked up a Sun-spot, if there were any present, but it could certainly help to have some red value showing in it, rather than blown out.

My best results with those type of shots have comes with a 100mm in portrait orientation. Using a GND with judicious amounts of feathering. My 100mm because you generally want your sharpest lens seeing how you are dealing with foreground shadows, mid ground shadows and the Sun at long distance. Portrait orientation because with the sun in the top third the sun reflection in the water takes up the bottom third. It just seems to look better to my eye. Other people seem to be able to make the landscape orientation work. You will have to get a response from one of them on that. The GND with feathering is just playing with the light to get it even or as uneven as you want. Have fun playing with it!

I don't have a GND, looks like I need to get one, and a decent tripod. Thanks.

Your horizon isn't straight.

By "this type of shot"....what type of shot is this supposed to even be? There is no clear subject other than the sun. The rest of the shot is underexposed and holds no interest.

Numenorean wrote in post #17109745
Your horizon isn't straight.

By "this type of shot"....what type of shot is this supposed to even be? There is no clear subject other than the sun. The rest of the shot is underexposed and holds no interest.

That is pretty much it, the sun in my sunsets is always blown out. I'm suspecting I need to use a filter or adjust my exposure.

WhidbeyHiker wrote in post #17110197
That is pretty much it, the sun in my sunsets is always blown out. I'm suspecting I need to use a filter or adjust my exposure.

Don't shoot directly at the sun. Wait until the sun is just below the horizon. There's other options or is including the sun something you are trying to do in every sunset? It's not necessary and there are other subjects which will look much better when the sun is in that position.

Numenorean wrote in post #17111345
Don't shoot directly at the sun. Wait until the sun is just below the horizon. There's other options or is including the sun something you are trying to do in every sunset? It's not necessary and there are other subjects which will look much better when the sun is in that position.

You can get great results by following this advice. Also, your first photo has a lot of "dead area" in the sky that is just wasted space. Consider cropping out areas of the sky that are uninteresting.

Numenorean wrote in post #17111345
Don't shoot directly at the sun. Wait until the sun is just below the horizon. There's other options or is including the sun something you are trying to do in every sunset? It's not necessary and there are other subjects which will look much better when the sun is in that position.

Exactly. Most of the time the colors happen AFTER sunset.