Sunrise & Sunset Shooting

[Robert B.]

I will be shooting a variety of Sunrise and Sunset shot for an up coming shoot on the Coast of North Carolina. To get that Crushed Orange fireball look with detail- What are some metering tips? What are the best parts of the landscape to meter for proper exposure.

 

Thanks

Robert B.

[Michael Nash]

Pick a part of the sky near the sun that you want to appear one or two stops above middle gray, use a spot meter on that part of the sky and expose accordingly. Don't try spot metering the sun itself even if it's a dim orange or you risk permanently damaging your vision.

 

The thing with sunsets is that every exposure reveals different detail and color in different parts of the sky and landscape. For that reason alone it's usually best to simply bracket your exposures over the range of several stops.

 

Twighlight/dusk is also a great time to play with color temperatures as well. Even though you might be inclined to go daylight balanced because it seems like daylight, you can actually bring out dramatic differences in the blue sky and orange glow by balancing between either tungsten or daylight.

 

Beware of diffraction at exteremely closed apertures (f11-f-16), since it can soften the resolution and enhance the "star" pattern from the leaves of the iris. Also beware of filter reflections, which may not be obvious through the VF or video tap. Try to get a matte box with an angled filter stage if you must use filters.

 

Use as long a lens and as steady a mount as you can get your hands on. I shot some "scorching desert sun" 2nd unit shots for a feature. With an Angineux 25-250 zoom and a 2x extender, I could actually see sunspots on the sun! Unfortunately even with the proper ND on the lens and heavy sunglasses for the viewfinder (no vide tap for framing), I still burned my eye. Hurt for a couple days. I'll never do that again!

[John Pytlak RIP]

Here's an old Kodak publication that gives some exposure recommendations for still photography, so you could calculate an equivalent motion picture exposure (180 degree shutter = 1/48 second) if you don't have a meter.

 

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/pr...nfo/ac61/#57378

[Matt Wells]

I had a wonderful result recently on a trip to Portugal where there was the most amazing sunset. I managed to capture it on super8 and Kodachrome 40 in time lapse - it came out unbelievably well which I think was a combination of skill and luck :D

 

As regards exposure I set for the sky to one side of the sun and then opened up around 2 stops, but I think the approach would need to be different depending on individual circumstances - I had a lot of broken cloud spreading the light around the sky, rather than a clear sky with the sun descending on its own.

 

Matt

[Filip Plesha]

When shooting objects like people lit by setting sun in still photography, I usually use f4 at 1/125s for 100ASA film. This is exposure for the areas directly hit by the weak orange sunlight. The equivalent of that in a MP camera would be f5.6 for 100ASA film without any filters. (this is a nice aperture,so you don't need to use a faster film for that)

 

But as for shooting sky and sun there is no "proper" exposure. Like Michael said, every setting brings a different image and is pretty on its own way. Specially if you are shooting coulds at sunset. With all kinds of exposures you can get a whole bunch of nucances from yelow, through orange to red, to purple later on.

 

I think you should shoot a test roll with all kinds of aperture settings and see what you like best.

[Bill Totolo]

For my personal taste I find that taking the ball off my meter (Spectra Pro iv) and pointing it at the sun yields nice exposures. Since I'm closed down I get a lot of the warm tones and detail in the sky, revealing a lot of the differences in color temp in the sky. I know I used negative film, can't remember the speed.