Scourie Sunset
Taken as dusk fell over the remote village of Scourie in the north west Highlands of Scotland. Manual exposure on tripod....
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Taken as dusk fell over the remote village of Scourie in the north west Highlands of Scotland. Manual exposure on tripod.
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Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This stunning sunset image was taken by the shore of the tiny village of Scourie in the far north west highlands of Scotland.Time
It was taken around 7.45pm in mid September 2014. The sun had already set and dusk was falling fast, leaving a fabulous orange/red afterglow across the horizon.Lighting
It was a beautiful evening and the location had very little light pollution. The trickiest part was balancing the exposure to get the cottages silhouetted, whilst retaining the rich colours of the sea and sky and getting it right within a 10min time scale before it all disappeared.Equipment
Canon 60D with Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens set to 20mm focal length (equiv to 32mm on Canon 60D). Manual exposure, evaluative metering, ISO 100, f/8, 1.3secs. No flash or filters.Inspiration
It was a beautiful sunny day and I had been out hill walking in the area all day before returning to my campervan in the early evening to chill out with a cold beer. I loved the beauty and calmness of the location and the sunset which gradually developed was spectacular. So I abandoned my beer, grabbed my tripod and tried to record it for posterity.Editing
Image is virtually out of the camera. Minor adjustment of levels, curves saturation etc.In my camera bag
My gear is mid range (as per my budget allows!). I prefer to spend on my glass, rather than on the cameras. Canon 60D is my main camera body, backed up with an older 450D. Lenses: Canon 70-300mm L telephoto, Canon 15-85mm wide to portrait, Canon 60mm macro, Sigma 10-20mm wide angle. Cokin neutral density filters, Hoya circular polariser. Manfrotto carbon composite tripod/head.Feedback
Prior planning helps. Get a sunset finder app (I use a free Android app) to find out when and where the sun will set. Research your location and choose your spot. Setup your gear and anticipate your camera settings in advance. Whilst I often shoot in aperture or shutter priority mode, I prefer manual mode for sunsets. This gives you much finer control over the exposure and the particular effect you want to achieve. As this exposure was going to be a longish one, I used a tripod to avoid camera shake. That also enabled me to use a low ISO of 100 to achieve the finest detail and adjust the aperture to an ideal f/8 for decent depth of field. I tried various other combinations of shutter speed and aperture until I found the sweet spot (in manual/live view mode you can adjust your exposure settings whilst simultaneously viewing the results on the LCD until you're happy with your choice). A word of warning - the "golden hour" isn't always an hour long! The particular lighting of the scene I captured only lasted about 10mins. It was too bright beforehand and too dark afterwards so you need to work fairly quickly or you'll miss it. Hope this helps anyone who wants to try this style of photography. May a beautiful sunset shine upon you soon.
