In today’s post, I wanted to give you a quick peak at my before and after pic of a sunset shot off Mary’s Rock last week, share some basic tips on taking sunset pictures, and a little about editing in Photoshop Lightroom.
The challenge with sunset pictures comes in the form of dynamic range. Cameras sensors have a very limited dynamic range compared to the human eye. The best digital cameras come close, but since our eyes constantly adjust, we perceive the world with much greater detail, color, and dynamic range. I could go on about bracketing, using filters, and metering, but I want to keep it simple – a single shot.
Here are the basic tips:
- Shoot in raw – If your camera is capable of shooting raw, then always shoot raw for sunsets. Check your camera’s user guide. If it does not shoot in raw, then the next two steps will have minimal benefit as your camera tries to do these for you in it’s internal jpg processing.
- Expose for the highlights – Set your camera in program mode and spot metering. Then point it to just outside the area of the sun, preferably a cloud or blue sky. Note the shutter speed, aperture, and iso. Now change your camera to manual mode and set it to the exposure you noted. Now take your picture.
- Bring up the shadows and colors in Lightroom – Once imported to Lightroom, in the develop module you’ll see sliders for highlights and shadows. Simply slide the highlights to it’s lowest setting, and the shadows to it’s highest settings.
You can now adjust everything else to taste. Here’s a screen shot of one I did recently.
Note I shot at f/4, an aperture that most lenses can do at wide angle. Looking back, I probably should have shot this at f/8.
Here’s the full image.
I may do a video on youtube for this later. Hope this helps. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading!
Hi Rob
I am very grateful for your very informative YouTube programs for the Olympus pen f. Since the my loss of the very good OM DE M1 I took a long time to commit to a replacement especially as the MK II was released a few days after my camera went missing. As I was insured all the endemnety was directed at the Olympus 1.8 primes along with some nice legacy lens and adapters. I am a very fortunate and not very proficient at takeing photographs of any subject which gives me great pleasure and I hope my friends and family pleasure also. When I say I am fortunate due to the patience and beauty of my friends and family of all ages. No matter how long I take they always oblige and complain with humour but your education on my new purchase will be of great benefit not only to me my long suffering love ones, so they thank you also. Please keep posting your great work and I for one know how much effort is needed to achieve such excellent content so I realy appreciate every program I watch.
Thank you
Kind Regards
Michael Hawkins
Thank you for taking the time to write such a kind letter. I’m very flattered and very much appreciate your recognition. Keep in touch!
Hi Rob,
My comments will essentially mirror those of Michael (who previously commented here), but I wanted to add my own thanks for your virtual tutelage. I recently purchased a new Pen-F in March of this year (with an Olympus 25mm, 1.8f lens), and though I consider myself an advanced amateur photographer, the menus on the camera were a bit daunting. I could easily figure out the basics from other cameras I have used over the years, but finding your instructional videos on YouTube have truly made me realize the potential this camera has!
My first camera was a Minolta X-700. I learned A LOT from using that camera, and it definitely helped to develop (no pun) my eye for composition. Using various Cannon, Pentax, and Nikon cameras over the years, I have picked up different things that these more advanced cameras were able to do. I decided to go with the Pen-F because I wanted something that was compact, yet capable, like other DSLR cameras I’ve used (plus it didn’t hurt that the Pen-F is probably the sexiest looking camera I’ve laid eyes on! I have joked to friends that it’s the poor-man’s Leica!). I also love the different artistic filters the Pen-F has. Like yourself, I tend to stay in Aperture priority mode, and I heavily favour the Mono 1 setting.
Your videos have opened up a world of possibilities that can be achieved with the Pen-F, and I wanted to sincerely thank you for that. I have subscribed to your YouTube channel, and look forward to implementing all the things you are showing us. I will be going to Scotland in November, and I can’t wait to bring my Pen-F with me to take some memorable shots (the last time I was in Scotland was when I was just beginning to learn photography with my X-700!). I am also hoping to get to Marrakesh this winter (to take pictures of all the colours of the central bazaar, as well as pictures of the Sahara), but because of the ban from Muslim countries pertaining to carry-on electronics larger than a cellphone, I am VERY reluctant to place my Pen-F with any check-in baggage. It has been rumoured that this restriction will (hopefully) be lifted in October.
My next step is to master the Light Room software. Until then, I am making sure to save all my images in JPEG+RAW for future editing.
Thank you again, Rob, for all the usefully information you are providing to fellow photographers out here.
Sincerely,
Joseph A.
I’m sorry I didn’t see this sooner. Thanks for taking the time to write to me and the kind words. Gosh, the x-700. Classic. I hope you still have it. I think it was their best and last film camera. I actually almost got one recently, but didn’t pull the trigger. I did pickup the Maxxum 7000 and an Olympus OM-2 for nostalgic reasons, being my cameras of choice back in college. I still haven’t finished a roll of film from a couple years back. I should take it out and see what’s there.
I’m loving my Pen-F too. I’ve been focusing on the video capabilities this month, but will do some more tutorials as I learn more about the camera. I really try to make the tutorials easy to follow without insulting those with more experience. I’m thinking about doing some on Lightroom since it’s really the other half of photography these days.
Please share your pictures if you get a chance after your trips!
Hi Rob
I’ve been a photography hobbist for over 40 years, did a lot of b&w development, enlargement and printing, but…, those days are gone,it’s almost impossible to do it nowadays at home like I use to do it. I’ve been a Nikonian for more than 30 years, but I’ve been struggling with the weight of the gear (body&lenses), I’m 71 years old.
I decided to go mirrorless as I already own a Sony RX100x mII and a Panasonic FZ300, I really like both cameras. 3 weeks ago I bought an Olympus OM-D EM-10 mII with a 12-42mm kit lens, a 40-150mm and Lumix 30mm f 2.8.
I watched your video about the EM-10 tips and really LOVED it! By the way your videos are just GREAT! Look forward for more EM-10 videos, although most of the ones for the PEN F can help with the OM-10.
I’m brazilian, living in the city of Campinas, state of Sao Paulo. My wife Ramona is americam and we have family here in the US (PA, CA and IL), we usually come to visit once a year for about a month. Hope to keep in toch with you!
I would appreciate if you having the visit my page at http://www.olhares.com/Nandz and comments.
Hi Luiz,
I know how you feel about Nikon. It’s been good to me, but also wanted something lighter. I bought the E-M10 II before getting a Pen-F. I bought the Pen-F as a present to myself because Olympus image quality was now a known quantity. I know use the E-m10 ii exclusively for work and the Pen-F for pleasure. You have just about the perfect setup for your e-m10. Might want to consider a fast prime, maybe adapt one of your old Nikon lenses. I’m loving the Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI on the Pen-F. I get great results out of my Nikkor 35mm f/2 as well.
Love your pictures! You’re a far better photographer than I. Let me know when you’re in PA. I live in Maryland, so only 2 hours from the PA border.
Good evening Rob!
Thank you for your reply!
I’m back to Brazil now , surelly I’ll let you know when I will be going to PA next time!
Will continue to follow you on YouTube, keep up the EXCELLENT work!
Abraços (Hugs),
Luiz
Hi Rob, I have been playing with photography on and off for the past couple years in my spare time and mostly when on vacation trips (so not very often… sadly enough), but last year before I took a more extensive vacation trip, I purchased the Olympus Pen-F. I have missed some shots that I wish that I had gotten due to my lack of knowledge on how to use the myriad of functions, dials, features, etc on this camera. When searching the internet 2 days ago, I came across your series of youTube learning videos and really appreciate you having the knowledge for using this camera!
The fact that you have things set up to show what buttons you are pressing, and where in the menus one needs to go to make a change and why this is a preference of yours, make a huge amount of difference in my learning curve!! You are patient in how you describe things, and I am able to stop the video to make notes or to make a change to the settings on the camera while watching them.
I also appreciate greatly that you are not a person who is touting the very highest priced lenses, or equipment.
You come across as a very sincere person in your presentations and as someone who likes to educate people in this field so that we can gain confidence in using the Pen-F camera. I greatly needed this help, and am a very visual learner, but not so great at reading a dry owner’s manual where there is no explanation, only words written on the page!
Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me. It’s nice to know that my time spent is not in vain. I do try to make the videos easy to follow and I’m so glad I was able to make that learning connection with you. Everyone learns differently so I never presume that just because someone else has a tutorial on the same thing that I don’t have another way of explaining it. I’m still learning to use the Pen-F and will try to make tutorials when I can. I was worried my videos would be too long, but it didn’t feel right rushing through steps. There is a reason I push or select something and I felt it important to say why.
Thanks. You say: “Expose for the highlights – Set your camera in program mode and spot metering. Then point it to just outside the area of the sun, preferably a cloud or blue sky. Note the shutter speed, aperture, and iso.” How do we note the shutter speed if that is not automatically set by the camera, as it is not auto-set on my camera? Do you mean set the aperture, iso, and shutter based on that spot (cloud), then use the same setting in M mode?
Hi Joe,
Yes. That is exactly what I mean.