Dreaming by Cristiana

You can’t help but think of Japan when you look at this rather iconic image of a praying mantis silhouetted by a setting red sun. Gorgeous.

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These images are some of our favourite photographs of sunrises and sunsets. If you’re inspired by these and itching to get started, read our tutorial on sunset photography.

In the meantime, enjoy!

Salisbury Cathedral © Andreas Jones

Hot Frosty Buzz © Miles Morgan

The mist of the sea © Minseung Ahn

Sunrise in the Dolomites © Daniel Rericha

Postcard from Punta Torre © Tonio Di Stefano

Red Canyon © Marc Adamus

Dutch Sunrise © Sander van der Werf

Amazing Sunrise © Glen Unsworth

Poppies at Sunset © Albena Markova

Sunrise Morning © Jeremy Cram

Alpine Sunrise © Gary Randall

Rophaien © Tobias Richter

Birds © Antonio Leao

Sunset at Sea © Mario Moreno

Sunset and Fishermen © Omur Kahveci

Opera House Inferno © Stanley Kozak

Pier into the Deep II © Andreas Jones

Mesa Arch Sunrise © Steve Perry

Winter Tones II © Ron Perkins

Bosque Sunrise © Dave Williams

Wild Goose Island © Jason Persun

Sunrise at Manarola © Mario Spalla

River of Light © Alex Noriega

Mount Merapi Sunrise © Daniel Cheong

Morning Lights and Colours © Csilla Zelko

Ibantik Lake © Bill Church

Bright Day © Ekaterina Elizarova

Antelope Island Sunset © Adam Barker

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Sunset photography is a favorite of summertime. The rich colours, dramatic lighting and strong shapes they offer can produce stunning shots with little need for much effort or clever planning from you.

However, you might find that your camera often captures pale imitations of the sunsets you see with your naked eye. Somehow, the intensity of the colours may have been lost, or the composition might not work.

So, here’s our guide to getting the most from a spectacular sunset, by composing your shots properly and adjusting the camera settings to make the most of the colours (download our free photography cheat sheet explaining the color temperature scale).

For most of us, the temptation to shoot a sunset when we first see it is overwhelming. But while there’s something to be said for getting a shot in the bag quickly, in case the conditions change, it can be worth spending a little longer over it to make sure you get everything right.

Your focal length setting and choice of viewpoint will make a big difference to the picture. A quickly grabbed wide-angle shot might capture the broadest area of sky but won’t necessarily give you the best composition.

A longer focal length and a more carefully chosen viewpoint can produce a much more effective result. The sun will be bigger in the frame and you’ll have more control over the shapes and silhouettes appearing in your sunset photography.

The key with camera settings is to make sure you capture the sunset’s colours as they are, not how the camera ‘thinks’ they should be. You might also need to adjust the exposure settings to suit the conditions, too, because in extreme lighting situations the camera might not interpret the scene in the way you expect (for more on how to cope with such problems, see our guide to the 99 common photography problems – and how to solve them).

Before we begin…
We mention White Balance and Picture Controls in our walkthrough, but you need to think about ISO settings too. Don’t use Auto ISO if you’re using a tripod, because you won’t need higher ISOs and the quality will suffer. If you’re shooting handheld, though, Auto ISO can be a good safeguard, because light levels (and shutter speeds) can change much more quickly than you might expect.

A complete guide to sunset photography

01 First attempts
Conditions change rapidly, so it’s good to get a few shots done quickly first. Here, we’ve used our zoom lens at its widest focal length, and got right up close to this old wooden lighthouse. This has resulted in a dramatic perspective, from tilting the camera upwards, but the sun is quite small in the background.

02 Change focal length
We’ve got a better shot by moving further away and using a longer focal length. The lighthouse is the same size and is much straighter because we haven’t had to tilt the camera. There’s a smaller area of sky in the background now, so the sun is larger and we’ve filled the frame with that rich, orange glow.

03 Play with White Balance
If you leave White Balance set to Auto, your camera might attempt to correct what it sees as a colour cast, producing weak or distorted tones. To capture the hues as they really are, use the Direct Sunlight White Balance preset. Or, for even deeper, warmer colours, try the Cloudy setting instead.

04 Use Picture Controls / Picture Styles
Take a look at your Nikon’s Picture Controls. The Standard setting reproduces colours accurately, but switching to Vivid will boost saturation and give extra intensity. Better still, shoot NEF (RAW) files rather than JPEGs. This will give you more scope for changing the White Balance and colour saturation later on.

05 Hide the sun
Exposure can be a problem with sunsets, so make sure you check your images on the LCD as soon as you’ve taken them. If the sun is still quite high in the sky it might be too intense in the shot, so try hiding it behind another object, such as this lighthouse. You still get those rich sunset colours, but without the glare.

06 Shoot the sun
If you want to include the sun in the frame, you’ll have to wait until it’s much nearer the horizon, when it will be less intense. You’ll still need to keep a close eye on the exposure. In extreme conditions like this, your Nikon’s matrix metering system might not react how you expect, so be prepared to adjust the exposure.

07 Metering modes
Try using centre-weighted metering. This is less sophisticated than matrix metering, and more easily influenced by very bright areas, but that’s exactly what we want for sunset shots. It’s the colour in the sky that’s important, and objects in the foreground should just be silhouettes. Try spot metering to take a reading from an area of sky.

08 Sunset calculators
The main secret with sunsets, of course, is to be in the right place at the right time. If you have a smartphone you can use a ‘sunset calculator’, which will tell you what time the sun will go down, and at what angle, for any date and location. LightTrac – £2.99 ($4.99) for iOS and £3.01 ($4.99) for Android – is a good option. You’ll still need to arrive well in advance, though, to give yourself time to prepare.

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Sunsets are always a popular subject for many photographers, but sometimes the image you end up capturing isn’t as vibrant or amazing as the scene in front of you. Many problems can occur when you point your camera towards the sun – extreme over – and under – exposure and severe lens flare can ruin your shots. The best time to capture a sunset is when the sun is just disappearing over the horizon. With Photoshop’s powerful tools it’s easy to bring colours to life in sunset scenes. Here we’ll use advanced toning techniques in Elements to enhance the existing colours. By creating a customised gradient overlay and pinpointing 3 areas of colour, you can boost the vibrancy of the sky and foreground to create a scene with much greater depth. Watch the video to find out how it’s done.

By 9am the sun reaches an angle of about 45 degrees and at this point the light has pretty much the same intensity as it has at noon, remaining that way until around 4pm. Its colour temperature is also virtually neutral throughout this period.

By 9am the sun reaches an angle of about 45 degrees and at this point the light has pretty much the same intensity as it has at noon, remaining that way until around 4pm.

Its colour temperature is also virtually neutral throughout this period.

There’s still plenty of scope for taking quality pictures at mid-morning and mid-afternoon - far more so than at midday. Because of the sun‘s relatively low position, its light still has strong directionality, and although shadows are now shorter and more clearly defined than at dawn, they aren‘t overwhelming. Colours also appear at their most saturated and vivid at these times.

By placing the low, early to mid-morning sun at different angles to your subject you can create a variety of lighting effects. For example, if you‘re shooting a landscape, direct sidelight will pick out all the subtle contours and textures.

The same effect can be exploited when shooting close-ups of textured subjects. Direct sidelight is also great for photographing architecture because it brings out 3D form and creates a bright, colourful image.

Contrast can be quite high, so meter carefully to avoid burning out the highlights. To be sure, take a spot-meter reading from a mid-tone area and bracket your exposures, or take an average reading and dial in up to – stops of exposure compensation.

A little cloud cover can help to reduce contrast slightly, but with very overcast, diffused lighting buildings appear flat and lack sparkle.

Silhouettes

Another option is to place the sun behind your subjects and turn them into silhouettes. Castles, statues and other landmarks look striking backlit at this time of day, as do beach scenes – think bold outlines, silvery-blue tones and shimmering highlights. Finally, shooting with the sun behind your shoulder will give you even, low contrast lighting and the most richly saturated hues and blue skies.

This effect is well suited to colourful landscapes and gardens, reflections in lakes, beach scenes and other subjects where shape, pattern and colour take precedent over texture.

Fit a circular polariser to enrich weaker skies, eliminate unwanted reflections and cut down on glare for even more saturated hues. A polariser will also bring out a wider, more intense range of hues in the sea.

If you’re using a wide-angle lens, be careful because variations in the degree of polarisation across the sky can make it look patchy.

Early afternoon light

During summer, there‘s not much difference in intensity between mid-morning and mid-afternoon light. However it may have a slightly warmer tint in the early afternoon due to increased atmospheric pollution and haze that‘s built up during the day.

Also consider that subjects that are directly lit in the late morning can already be blighted by intrusive shadows by early afternoon.