Sunset tonight

Badger8

Badger8

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Tim
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I'm thinking about shooting tonights sunset... I've seen some amazing photos on here, but a lot of the seem to be using filters. What advise would you give for someone with a D3100 and a kit 18 - 50mm lens? I'm guessing i can still get a decent shot if I do some PP?

I think what I'm trying to say is can you get good results of sunsets without filters?
 
You have to be more specific about what you want to shoot, a sunset on it's own requires no filters but is a bit boring.

A sunset with some foreground interest? Silhouette - nothing required.
A sunset with some foreground interest? Portrait? Off camera flash.
A sunset with some foreground interest? Landscape detail - either an ND grad or multiple exposures blended in post.
 
Phil V said:
You have to be more specific about what you want to shoot, a sunset on it's own requires no filters but is a bit boring.

A sunset with some foreground interest? Silhouette - nothing required.
A sunset with some foreground interest? Portrait? Off camera flash.
A sunset with some foreground interest? Landscape detail - either an ND grad or multiple exposures blended in post.
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I've got a 10 stop, but I might see if I can talk multiple shots for HDR maybe?
 
This was straight out the camera, no filters, no post processing...

18022013 059 by kendo1111, on Flickr

Ken
 
Tim, the main thing to be careful of is if the sun hasn't set it'll effect the exposure, try the camera on manual and fire away with different exposures, if like tonight the sky is pretty bright you'd need a grad filter or wait a while until its dusk, but be careful as you could then be getting into needing a tripod, as Kendo has shown you can get great colours when the sun has disappeared.
Just let me add the advice is from my experience and I am far from an expert, there will be members on here with a far great knowledge than me who will give you help.
 
Gr8Shot said:
But wb altered to get the effect
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?

No. That was what it looked like. I under exposed by about 1/2 a stop, I usually do.

Ken
 
Sharp, good colour.
The main distraction for me is the power or telephone lines.

Not much you can do about that from this viewpoint.

Ken
 
kendo1 said:
This was straight out the camera, no filters, no post processing...
Ken
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According to your EXIF...

"Saturation - Enhanced"

Post processing is just not what you do on the computer :) I'm not trying t take anything away from you... but the camera post processed it for you.


Not that it matters... a good image is a good image.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
According to your EXIF...

"Saturation - Enhanced"

Post processing is just not what you do on the computer :) I'm not trying t take anything away from you... but the camera post processed it for you.


Not that it matters... a good image is a good image.
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I knew I should have stripped it!

Yep, I set my camera up according to Rockwell, to compensate for how the camera views a scene compared with how I see it. I find that if you don't set saturation to enhanced with a D200 the images look washed out.
I've always underexposed by about 1/2 a stop since my 'Kodachrome 25' days.

By the way, the blob on the left hand tree appears to be a cormorant (according to a local twitcher). It sat there at the same time every day for a week.
 
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kendo1 said:
I knew I should have stripped it!
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Why? So you could deceive people? That image is post processed. If the D200 desaturated images, it would desaturate all images, not just a sunset.

kendo1 said:
Yep, I set my camera up according to Rockwell,
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I wouldn't set up my toilet roll on it's holder according to anything that moron writes... but that's up to you :)


Non of this matters.... the end result is the be all and end all... seriously.. it just is. However, if you're going to be informing people that it's straight off camera with absolutely no processing... you may want to shoot RAW, so the camera's output is not being processed.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Why? So you could deceive people? That image is post processed. If the D200 desaturated images, it would desaturate all images, not just a sunset.
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I was trying to be amusing, but it appears to have been lost on you.
I was also being honest by leaving all the data there.
I didn't consider the picture as being post processed, certainly not on my computer. The picture did come straight out of my camera.
I feel that the sensor in MY D200 does desaturate all images - that is why I have set the saturation level the way I have.
Likewise, the sensor in my D80 does not need this, so saturation is left as is.

I thought I would get a response about Rockwell. You're predictable, as was your comment.
I shoot in JPEG and RAW.
 
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kendo1 said:
I was trying to be amusing, but it appears to have been lost on you......


........I thought I would get a response about Rockwell. You're predictable,
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So it was a troll? I see. So it seems I can't take anything you say at face value then :P

Apologies if I didn't get your humour BTW.


It doesn't matter if your computer processes the images, or your camera. I can set my camera to create over saturated, over sharpened HDR images if I want.... and they still come straight off my camera. They're still as heavily processed as they would be if I did all that on the camera.

As I said though... a good image is a good image, and yours is a good image. All I was saying was be careful about being vocal about straight off camera if your camera is set to add processing to the image.
 
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I suppose I'll have to walk around naked to take real pics...
 
nice shot ken, and tim its hard getting the right shot as the sun sets many factors can affect the image. The glare of the sun, exposure time and also the positioning i.e what you want in the photo.
heres mine from tonight,

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/69033_350408441728058_1446048396_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/164284_350408125061423_1129841199_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/923245_350405201728382_120595366_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/430263_350411998394369_237691273_n.jpg

tip: dont take dog with you on the lead, camera in one hand dog pulling away in the other doesnt make for the best shot but i still fink i captured the shot i wanted.
 
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kendo1 said:
I suppose I'll have to walk around naked to take real pics...
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That's an entirely separate lifestyle choice :) Not sure what it would do for your image making though.
 
Isn't the act of converting to JPEG post processing anyhow?????????
 
Not really... it CAN effect image quality on a technical level, but it doesn't change the over all aesthetic of the image. Visually, unless heavily compressed you'd be hard pushed to tell a JPEG from a RAW file if neither had any processing... not without some proper pixel peeping anyway.
 
Pookeyhead said:
... Visually, unless heavily compressed you'd be hard pushed to tell a JPEG from a RAW file if neither had any processing... not without some proper pixel peeping anyway.
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However it's difficult to get a modern camera to spit out a vanilla JPEG, by default processing is applied (because it's necessary).

What's more (OT) the JPEG with no processing will be crap, just like a RAW file with no adjustment, the colours and sharpness need some work due to the nature of the capture device.

I just wish people could get their heads round 'all images are processed' and stop banging on about SOOC as if it makes them look smart (sorry but it makes them look :nuts:).
 
Badger8 said:
I'm thinking about shooting tonights sunset... I've seen some amazing photos on here, but a lot of the seem to be using filters. What advise would you give for someone with a D3100 and a kit 18 - 50mm lens? I'm guessing i can still get a decent shot if I do some PP?

I think what I'm trying to say is can you get good results of sunsets without filters?
Click to expand...

Answer is yes you can but you may have to wait for the right evening. Think about taking the sunset shot over water for the reflection, or through trees for effect. Don't go thinking you will get a good sunset photo every day, you may have to wait some considerable time.

To give some idea and taken without filters taken over the years

dsc0469a.jpg



or



across water

dsc5703800x600.jpg


Realspeed
 
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Phil V said:
What's more (OT) the JPEG with no processing will be crap, just like a RAW file with no adjustment, the colours and sharpness need some work due to the nature of the capture device.
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But only to achieve neutrality and correctness... not to enhance anything.



A RAW file, unless the camera is defective, will be as close to neutral as possible if no adjustments are made. Any processing made to it in camera will be merely to attain accuracy.

BTW... I'm not advocating "real" photographers shoot straight off camera either... no idea why you brought that up. Everything I produce is post processed... even when I was working in chemical darkrooms it was post processed. Have you not seen any of my work?? I like post processing... if done with care for the right reasons. I also said in my first post in this thread, that it actually makes no difference... and a great image is a great image... I was merely pointing out that setting saturation to enhanced when shooting JPEG will be doing just that... enhancing saturation... and that's processing.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
But only to achieve neutrality and correctness... not to enhance anything.

A RAW file, unless the camera is defective, will be as close to neutral as possible if no adjustments are made. Any processing made to it in camera will be merely to attain accuracy.

BTW... I'm not advocating "real" photographers shoot straight off camera either... no idea why you brought that up. Everything I produce is post processed... even when I was working in chemical darkrooms it was post processed. Have you not seen any of my work?? I like post processing... if done with care for the right reasons. I also said in my first post in this thread, that it actually makes no difference... and a great image is a great image... I was merely pointing out that setting saturation to enhanced when shooting JPEG will be doing just that... enhancing saturation... and that's processing.
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Sorry David, not all of that post was a response to yours, I'm sure we've roughly the same attitude to this tosh from what I've observed.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Not sure what it would do for your image making though.
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I'm sure it would make for some interesting expressions in street photography, it would defiantly avoid all the cliché shots at least :runaway:
 
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