Photography News Issue 33

Photography News | Issue 33 | absolutephoto.com

Technique

Get over exposure

Having picked your location, when a good sky is in the brewing, how should you time your arrival?

One of the trickiest aspects of shooting both sunrise and sunset is exposure. The sheer range of tones on display is likely to cause problems; you need to avoid burning out the highlights details in the clouds close to the sun; and you can’t afford to sacrifice detail in the shadows. Then there’s all the fiery colour tomake the most of… Such subjects are covered in David Taylor’s book, Mastering Exposure (Ammonite Press, £19.99). David Taylor is an award-winning landscape and travel photographer, born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne. His new 178-page book is aimed at enthusiasts wanting to expand their knowledge of photographic technique as well as gettingmore experimental with their photography. David’s tips explains the fundamentals of exposure through creative and practical examples and covers portraits, landscapes, low-light photography andmore. We caught up with David to ask him for some sunset-specific exposure tips. When it comes to exposure settings, David says a camera’s exposure meter is typically very good at exposing a sunset sky alone, so little if any exposure adjustment is required. However, “what’s less easy is exposing for a sunset and a landscape foreground. This usually requires the use of neutral density graduated (ND grad) filters to balance the exposure, and the greater the brightness difference, the stronger the grads will need to be.” Would he recommend sunset filters, or other kinds of filtration? While traditional landscape filters like ND grads are very useful, he says, the trusty polariser must be used wisely. “If you’re shooting towards the sun a polariser won’t have much effect and I’d also keep the number of filters to a minimum; when you’re shooting into the light, the fewer filters there are, the less chance of flare, especially if the sun is just poking up above the horizon. I also avoid the use of filters that add colour. When nature is providing somuch colour of her own it seems slightly rude to want artificially add your own.” David’s book also goes into detail on the Zone Systemof exposure, famously associated with Ansel Adams; so can this help with sunset and sunrise scenes, too? “The Zone System certainly can be used to help with sunset exposures, mainly because it forces you to think about the scene as a range of tones, and therefore which parts of the range the camera can record successfully.”

Above Derwent Isle Mist by Paul Bullen, shot at Derwentwater, Cumbria, at sunrise. The glowing mist makes for an eerie scene. Left Cloud Glacier by Andy Tibbetts, shot on Beinn an Aodainn, Knoydart, featuring a sunrise and cloud inversion. Below Winter on Grindslow Knoll by Paul Newcombe, whose cold wait in the snow- strewn peaks was rewarded by a sunset.

is enough to lift a scene without worrying about a more complicated composition. “My local beach at Formby is a good example of that,” says Paul Bullen, “it’s pretty featureless, but throw in a good sunset and use one of the beach markers as foreground interest and it works really well for a minimalist shot. Similar to the iron men statues on Crosby beach, a good sunset just makes the image stand out.” Time to burn Having picked your location and accepted that being there – and often – is one of the key components of shooting sunrises and sunsets, when a good sky is in the brewing how should you time your arrival? How long do the best conditions last andhowcanyoumake sure your compositionmakes themost of them? “The secret for me,” says Frank Leavesley, “is to arrive at a location well before the event and start planning the exact composition as soon as possible. Knowing where the sun will rise and set really helps in this regard.” Andy Tibbetts agrees, “the more time you can allocate to this, the better, as when the landscape is lit the last thing you need to find out is that you’re in the wrong place! You need sufficient time to find a pleasing composition, anticipating which parts of your scene the sunlight will illuminate and which leave in shadow.” Ultimately, he says, this means, the time actually taking images can be brief; it’s the time invested beforehand that will pay off. “In the mountains, this is further extended by the need to reach your location and either prepare a camp or allow time to retreat off the hills. In this case the photographic part of the operation may be as little as 30 minutes comparedwith several hours of preparation.” Paul echoes this, and with a plan in mind arrives with plenty of time to go until the prime

conditions; “I start by scouting my location about an hour either side of the sunrise or set, and I stick around for a good half an hour after the sun has disappeared below the horizon as that’s quite oftenwhen you get the best colours.” This afterglow is often overlooked, with many inexperienced snappers exiting the scene shortly after the sun and missing the real photographic gold. The colours in the gloaming can often be deeper and more beautiful than what most consider the sunset ‘proper’. Getting there early and making the most of the light also throws up safety concerns. Like many subjects it’s easy to get swept along with the good light, staying out longer than intended – not a problem at dawn, but post sunset you’ll be left to find your way home in the dark. Pre- dawn shootswill see you arriving in the dark, so take a torch just in case, and the same applies for sunsets, with the added proviso that a change into warm clothing can be very welcome after the sun stops warming your bones. The sky is not enough One of the main mistakes that people make when composing sunrises and sunsets is letting the light show dominate the rest of the scene. Ultimately, the landscape has to stand up on its own, despite the beautiful light. Ross concurs: “it’s easy to get overwhelmed by a big, colourful sky and composition often suffers as a result – beginners canwronglybelieve that lots of colour in the sky will automatically guarantee them a great shot. It doesn’t.” At these moments, he says, just take a deep breath, think, and go about constructing your shot carefully and creatively. “Really,” agrees Jeremy, “framing for sunsets and rises is the same as for any other time of day, although if it’s all about the colour then a body of reflecting water helps with the composition

to double the intensity of the colours of the sky.” Andy Tibbetts feels the trick is to balance what you’re experiencing with the task of making an effective image, and while the conditions often lead people into including the sun in the frame, says “inmyopinionevenwhen this ispositioned artfully the effect is rarely satisfactory. For me, in an image if the sun is going to be in the frame, it has to be hidden or modified by something.” This could mean tucking it behind a physical part of the scene, like a mountain or trees, or partially obscuring it in cloud or mist, which alsomakes exposure easier. “Themost powerful shots,” he says, “are where you can appreciate the effect that the sunset has on clouds, onwater and on the landscape around you.” “Itrytotakemysunriseorsunsetimageswith little clutter, using a focal point within the scene to anchor the eye and then allow the sunrise colours to do their thing,” says Paul Bullen, “but it always depends on the subject I’m working with.” If the scene includes water reflecting the glowing sky, as his shot in this year’s LPotY did, “then a central horizon is preferable, giving a pleasing symmetry.” If you do place the sun in your shot, it can be used on the thirds of the frame, balancing a strong foreground or, if you can find them, lead- in lines, that draw the eye up to the subject, but asRoss says, “there is rarely a definitive formula in photography. Much depends on the situation, but normally I would shoot towards the colour and glow in the sky. Colour radiates all around, so keep glancing around you even though you will often want to shoot towards the most interesting, beautiful sky.” Shooting into the light can cause exposure problemsaswellasimageartefactslikelensflare but if the composition works best shooting that way, Jeremy Barrett offers some great advice.