interesting sunset

I've done a lot of experimenting and don't mind sharing what I find works. These were all taken with a Canon D20 and Tamron 17-35 lens on a tri-pod with remote switch. Here are the general parameters I used for these, but let me know if you want specifics for a particular shot.

• ISO-100 (I never comprise here for sunset shots)
  
• Apeture between F11 and F13 (using AV mode; with TV mode you'll really struggle with the changing light). Anything much lower than F8 and I find I just don't have the same sharpness and DOF.
  
• Shutter speeds range from 1/8-1/13 for these shots (but could be even slower for interesting effects with the water). I don't really pay much attention to the shutter speed as I know it will be slow.
  
• Post processing in CS2. Mostly messing with Curves and Shadow/Highlights. I also bump the saturation up10-15 and then do Smart Sharpen to 30-50 depending on the shot. I sometimes add a touch more Red/Yellow in color balance if the image comes out too cold, but the 1st shot above I didn't mess with the colors at all. The last one I did.

The colors in these are wonderful! I really like the look of the water in the last shot! Thanks for sharing the photos and your technique for taking them.

Great shot

It is an interesting one,and very wild colours too,nice.

Excellent shots Bill the reflections and colours are superb.

Thanks for sharing that information. A lot of good advice, and I will definitely take it - and hopefully learn from it. I keep a little notebook in my camera bag when I get stumped about exposure settings. I will be writing this down. Thanks again.

love the reflections and the beautiful sky

Bill,

I am also in So. Cal. and wanted to know if you were part of any photo groups or clubs locally? I know that these pics were taken outside of that, but I was curious of what groups might be available in the area. Specically, I am in Costa Mesa.

Great pictures BTW! Sunsets usually don't do much for me, but these have the nice reflections and textures in the sand that really make them stand out! Excellent job!

I grew up in Costa Mesa and live in Fountain Valley currently. I'm not part of any photo groups and don't know of any. Perhaps we should start one.

Some gorgeous colours but I think the images are marred with having the horizon more or less dead centre. I realise that this maximises the sky and the reflections but perhaps it maybe worth to concentrate on one or the other.

Alan,
Great observation and I appreciate the critique. It has crossed my mine a few times if I'm centering the horizon too much. I will experiment more with moving it up or down in the future.

Thanks,
Bill