HELP! Beach sunset portraits

[PropilotBW]

I'm at the beach for vacation. I am in need of some help for camera settings to expose for the sunset and the people in front of it. I don't have external flashes, only the built in on my d5100.
I think this is how you do it....this is how I DID do it.
i set my camera to P mode with the flash stowed away and took notice of the cameras automatic settings. I used f/11. I then switched to manual mode and popped up the flash and took the picture.
I tried a couple flash power settings such as 1/2,1/4, 1/8 power.
The results were not spectacular.
I also put the white balance in a slightly warmed cloudy setting.
I spot metered on my people subject. Should I focus before composing, then Recompose the shot using focus lock so the scene doesn't re-meter the lighting? Should be spot focus be on the sunset to "expose for the sunset"?

Is there anything you can add or suggest differently?

Thanks a bunch!

sorry, I can't post my first attempts. I don't have my laptop with me.

 

[Sarcasmonaut]

Shoot in RAW so you don't have to worry about the white balance. Meter on the sunset, then recompose on your subject. Aperture between F/8-F/11. If you have a reflective screen and someone to hold it, position it near the subject for good soft frontal lighting. Works far better than on-camera flash.

 

[cptkid]

Its going to be very hard to get both the sunset and the people.

Either you need to use reflectors, or speedlights to light the people whilst exposing for the sunset.

or

Shoot two photos, one of the sunset and one of the people, then merge them together afterwards.


Your camera just does not have the dynamic range to capture it all in one photo from using just the camera and nothing else.

 

[hirejn]

Pics would help. You have choices. If the sun is at their backs, you can go for a silhouette or expose for the face and lose the background. You can go for a side light along the beach, sacrificing the sky and water as a background but capturing the waves on the beach. You can use the beach as the bg for front lighting. You may be able to get decent results with the built-in flash, but only in manual mode, which requires understanding of exposure and flash, and at reasonably close distance, like within 10 feet. If the sun is in the shot, it'll be blown out. Spot metering still requires understanding of exposure. If you spot meter on the sun, the exposure will be dark. A hand-held incident meter makes it much easier to meter for the light you want.

 

[Mike_E]

Or save up for a set of ND Grad filters.

You can either get good ones and pay more or cheap ones and find out exactly what colorcast they have and then learn how to negate that in PS. -I'm not going to write a book here, or anywhere for that matter, but you might start with graduated filter tool.

 

[PropilotBW]

Or save up for a set of ND Grad filters.

You can either get good ones and pay more or cheap ones and find out exactly what colorcast they have and then learn how to negate that in PS. -I'm not going to write a book here, or anywhere for that matter, but you might start with graduated filter tool.

I'm aware of Grad ND filters. I am at the beach for 4 more days. No time to save up for the filters.
I am asking how I can make due with what I have here with me now.

 

[Derrel]

How about setting the exposure mode dial to SCENE, and then using the Command Dial, scroll through until you arrive at the Scene Mode icon that has the picture of the party/indoor icon.

http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D5100_EN.pdf

I looked up the Manual Flash Guide Number for ISO 100: that is 43, so at 10 feet at ISO 100, the full burst of the flash requires f/4.3 as the f/stop.

At 200 ISO, the Guide Number would be 60, so at 10 feet, a full-power flash is f/6.

Basically, you need to figure out the right exposure for a sun set sky; say f/6 at 1/125 second....okay, if that's good, then place your people at 10 to 12 feet and shoot.

Keep in mind: you can keep the flash at Manual, full-power, and move the people farther away to make them dimmer, close to make 'em brighter. You could also set the flash to 1/2 power, so that there is less flash output.

 

[cynicaster]

Digital snapshots are free, so if you don’t want to bother with math, you can go the trial and error route.

Whatever your camera is trying to tell you for the “correct” exposure of the sunset, knock that down 1-2 stops, and dial in those settings in M mode (I suppose this part is personal preference, but stopping down in this way will provide better color saturation of the sky, which I personally like).

Then, bring in your subjects, and decide where you want to stand relative to them. Raise your flash in manual mode and start at, say, half power and take a test shot. Chimp away, and add or remove flash power as needed to expose the subjects’ faces properly. Once the exposure looks really close to what you want, leave the flash power there and “trim” the exposure by moving a step or two toward or away from the subjects.

Of course, you’ll need to move quickly because lighting changes by the second during sunset, but this method should work in a pinch. Best of all, even if the pics don’t turn out all that well, it will be a learning experience to better prepare you for next time.