Sunset Photos - Tips For Creating Great Sunset Images

Here are some tips for great sunset photos with subjects.  This assumes you have a digital SLR and controllable flash, either on camera, attached or triggered.

1. First expose for the background.  Start with Aperture or Shutter priority mode and adjust your exposure compensation until you get the right exposure.  I find that I often have to dial down the exposure a couple of stops from the default to deepen the colors.


2. Switch to Manual.  Using the settings in the first step, set manual mode.  If the shutter speed is faster than your flash "sync" speed maximum, you may need to increase the f-stop and/or lower the ISO to get the shutter speed in flash range.

3. Set the camera to flash color balance.  This will correctly expose the skin tones.  Or you can shoot raw and correct it at import.

4. Choose a fill-flash that does not overexpose the people.  The sunset is dark and soft behind, and an overly lit subject will look artificial.  Also try to avoid harsh shadows from on-camera flash.

5. Stabilize and shoot bracketed flash exposure.  Hold the camera steady and shoot a set of images with the flash compensation varied.

6. Edit for foreground and background. When you edit the image, you can tweak the contrast and saturation to emphasize the sunset colors.  If you have an underexposed subject, you can create a duplicate layer, edit that layer for the face or skin exposure, and combine the layers to show the original sunset and the tweaked skin tones.  It's a lot easier than you think!

Once you have practiced this a few times, you can get some really great sunset images.