Summer Sunset
This was one of the best sunsets I saw last summer. I took this photo with a friend's camera and made some minor tweaks to the color levels before uploading....
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This was one of the best sunsets I saw last summer. I took this photo with a friend's camera and made some minor tweaks to the color levels before uploading.
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Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was right in my neighborhood close to my parents' house. I saw how dramatic the sunset was becoming and rushed outside to find a good vantage point.Time
I took this photo at 6:47 PM in August a couple summers back. I got a bunch of shots of this sunset, but this particular one was my favorite beyond any doubt.Lighting
I used a pair of 60" softboxes on the background and a beauty dish to the right, with a reflector on the left to fill in the shadows. ... I'm kidding! It was all natural light, so there's really not much to tell.Equipment
I used an old Canon Rebel XS that I had borrowed from a friend at the time. I was relatively new to photography at the time, and it was the first "real" camera I had used for any length of time. If I remember correctly, it was just the 18-55 kit lens on the camera.Inspiration
This was a very spur-of-the-moment shot actually! It was one of the most dramatic sunsets I had ever seen, so taking the photo was just a matter of finding the right place to shoot from at the right moment.Editing
I did very minimal post-processing. Unfortunately, because I was still learning the equipment, I didn't shoot a raw image, and the camera's JPEG processing did limit me a bit. I was able to make some adjustments to the contrast and saturation though, and I brought the shadows down because I really like having the foreground silhouetted in these kinds of photos.In my camera bag
My main camera now is a Pentax K-50. I love it because it has features normally only found on cameras three times the price, like weather sealing and a pentaprism viewfinder. For lenses I usually have my 50mm f/1.8 prime and a 50-200mm kit telephoto. Occasionally I'll bring out the 18-55 kit lens, but it's my least favorite to work with. I also usually have a circular polarizer and a 9-stop ND filter for long exposures. My gear is far from glamorous, but it gets the job done and didn't break the bank. ;-)Feedback
Timing is critical. Sunset turns into twilight in a matter of minutes, and you want to already be in position when the sky is at its most dramatic. I also find the best sunsets tend to come in the summer, at least in Nevada where I live. Right after a thunderstorm is a great time to get sunset shots because of all the interesting clouds.
