Sunset photo help

I use Lightroom for fundamental adjustments to RAW files, and Paintshop Pro for what I did to your posted JPG.

duckster wrote in post #18662442
I agree that the original sunset was blah as far as interesting things going on, no clouds or anything. Was just trying to work on the exposure side of things, to see if I can get the colors right

saturated colors are generally better obtained when the meter reading is to the brightness of the sky putting the sky into the middle of the histogram. Metering in Eval mode makes a compromise setting, not biased to the sky.

just my .02 Without software to do any sort of PP it is almost impossible to get great results from a sunset. With that in mind, however, if you can NOT get the actual sun in the frame, you will see better results. Contrast will be reduced, thus helping you get better color rendering, that you are after, in the sky.

again, just my .02

-Duck- wrote in post #18662450
For me, shooting RAW and JPEG is a bit redundant. If you have the RAW file what is the purpose of the JPEG? If I want a JPEG I'll just generate it from the RAW.

Personally I shoot both and it often makes it easy if someone asks for a "quick" image without my going to the trouble to generate one.

In this instance, and relative to my comments to the OP, I made the comment because comments by the OP seem to indicate that he/she might be shooting JPEG only. If he is going to get into PP, I wanted to insure he consider making the move to RAW. Extracting the comments, they are below:

duckster wrote in post #18660774
Mostly take sports photos but I enjoy a good sunset or sunrise but can not really seem to get them to look very good compared to what I am seeing at the time.

Here is an example from last night. Any basic suggestions? I don't have any PP software, so this is JPEG right out of the camera. Thanks for any tips.

IMAGE LINK: https://troybracker.sm​ugmug.com …lery/n-4qjsDB/i-hpq7R8X/A

duckster wrote in post #18661244
Thanks Wilt

What software to you use for post processing?

I have not done any with the exception of a little cropping but maybe I need to bite the bullet and start to learn.

ptcanon3ti wrote in post #18662577
just my .02 Without software to do any sort of PP it is almost impossible to get great results from a sunset. With that in mind, however, if you can NOT get the actual sun in the frame, you will see better results. Contrast will be reduced, thus helping you get better color rendering, that you are after, in the sky.

again, just my .02

Agree. The range of brightnesses (DR) makes it impossible to expose for great sky color saturation, yet retain much detail in the foreground (which is generally 'in the shadows' of the range of brightnesses as the sun sets).
Altering overall exposure for one area will compromise a different area.
Graduated filters are one attempt to diminish the DR of the scene, but then might find the gradient to be not-in-the-right-spot of the filter, even the ones meant to fit the square filter holders.
With post processing, one can get a varied number of interpretations. Here I show

1. the shot as OP posted,
   
2. then #2 is exposed for foreground,
   
3. #3 is exposed for sunset colors, and
   
4. #4 exploits post processing tools to get a totally different interpretation of the scene...
   

Wilt, thank you for those examples, very interesting as to what can be done!

duckster wrote in post #18662825
Wilt, thank you for those examples, very interesting as to what can be done!

BTW, that bluishness at the horizon is IN NATURE, I did not colorize your photo and add that color! It was contained within the original shot you posted!!!

Very cool!

While not every sunset I see is one that I decide to shoot; it has been my experience that in general I get my best ones just after the sun goes below the horizon.

Midwest grain elevator at sunset

Another tool I find useful for Sunrise/Sunsets are a good set of reverse grad filters I use a 3 stop reverse grand a lot, helps control the foreground exposure.
This is a Singh Ray 3 stop reverse grad. Exposure comp 1/3 stop to the right

Graduated ND filter. Always. Unless you are trying to create a silhouette.

Thanks. Will have to read up on using ND filters.

I am new to photography, but I found this very helpful in considering the types of ND filters and their uses: https://www.theschoolo​fphotography.com …depth-guide-for-beginners

Thanks for the link!