Sunsets and Nighttime Photos
Because photography is the art and science of capturing light, you wouldn’t think that nighttime would present many photo opportunities. But in fact, nighttime pictures can be the most spectacular ones in your portfolio. Sunsets, evening portraits, city lights, and even car lights can stand out like bright colors on a black canvas.
Tip
You won’t get far in this kind of photography without a tripod. You can practice the following techniques by bracing the camera against a wall—but you’ll find the job infinitely easier with a real tripod.
Sunsets
Your camera usually does a good job of exposing the sky during sunset, even in automatic mode. Keep the flash turned off and shoot at will. The biggest mistake people make when shooting sunsets has nothing to do with the sky—it’s the ground that ruins the shots. Your eyes can make out much more detail in the shadowy ground than your camera will. Therefore, it’s not worth trying to split the frame in half, composing it with the sky above and the ground below. The bottom half of your photo will be just a murky black blob in the final image.
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