shooting straight into the sunset

afoto · May 4, 2012

what are your thoughts on shooting straight into the sunset? lately i've found that i actually like my results better when composing my shot 90 degrees to either side so the actual sun isn't in my shot.

does anyone else feel this way? is it a common landscape practice not to shoot into the sunset?

this image was shot just after the sun went under the horizon line, so here i don't mind it so much. i found this cool old anchor and chain that was slowly being covered by the tide that i thought would be cool to include in the image, as always, c&c appreciated

10 stop filter
0.9 soft lee grad
0.6 soft lee grad

chain by hippy_henna, on Flickr

vipgraphx · May 4, 2012

I think it just depends on what you are going for. There is no right answer. I like to shoot directly into the sun but I usually try to off set the sun to the right or left if possible.

by the way nice photo! I love that log with that green funk on it....:thumbup: My interpretation of this photo is that that log is the subject not so much the sunset since the colors of the sky and water kinda blend.

Compaq · May 4, 2012

Maybe I'd try both things. I like to wait until after the sun has gone down, as that's when the really awesome colours appear (if the clouds are friendly). But sure, the sun can add something to the shot. Depends.

Derrel · May 4, 2012

When the sun is actually in the frame, it becomes a very "hot" subject in terms of exposure, and that by necessity typically forces you to expose for the highlights, so as not to clip them. That means that the shadowed areas are going to be pretty severely under-exposed, and so, you'll most likely need to "lift" the shadows in post, and with the majority of cameras, that introduces noise. Lens flare, ghosting, and veiling glare arel three serious issues that often crop up when shooting right at the sun, or close to its position; that (flare.ghosting/veiling) can be used to creative/artistic advantage, at times, but at times, the flare or ghosting or veiling glare ruins the shot by washing all the shadows and mid-tones wayyyy out...

With the sun well out of the frame, the contrast ratio of most outdoor scenes is easily handled by a modern d-slr sensor (or film), and your expopsure and compositional choices are quite broad, so it totally makes sense why you prefer NOT shooting right toward the sun. The other thing is, I suppose, obvious yet unstated so far: when shooting toward the sun, subjects are seen "against the light", aka "backlighted", aka "contre joure" (French for against daylight).

Some subjects and some scenes work great when shooting contre joure....some do not....so...you know, YMMV.