Sunset at Moffit Beach

[DSettahr]

As today's storms rolled through, there was a gap in the clouds perfectly timed to coincide with sunset. I got these pictures from the state campground at Moffit Beach earlier today.

There is too much of a glare on the first one I think, but I really like how the other 3 turned out. I especially like the dichotomy in colors once the sun set below the horizon... the purples/blues and the oranges/yellows complement each other really well I think.

 

[Grumpy]

Interesting shots of subject (sunset) that is more difficult to photograph well than it might seem.

I generally like the long, narrow horizontal format you have chosen. I even think these shots illustrate how you can break a "rule" of composition -- in this case, centering the prime horizon line horizontally in the frame -- with relative impunity. The exception would be photo #3, which might benefit from some cropping off the top.

I'm an inveterate experimenter with composition and cropping, so I suggest also trying to crop these scenes in some different ways. I think lopping off a little of the negative (little-or-no-detail) space to the left might tighten the composition overall on most of them, even though it would cause the brightest part of the scene to shift more toward dead center.

Textures in the water are very nice.

G.

 

[Billy]

...I generally like the long, narrow horizontal format you have chosen. I even think these shots illustrate how you can break a "rule" of composition -- in this case, centering the prime horizon line horizontally in the frame -- with relative impunity
G.

I agree. Cropping out much of the sky and water (negative space) can result in some nice shots, as yours are.

Shooting-straight-at-the-sun sunset shots are often a challenge for me because of metering choices: sometimes I'll set my exposure for the sun to get a perfectly exposed little fireball, but that renders everything else almost black. Sometimes I meter for the pretty clouds, but that often results in a bleached out sun. Either way, it's fun to experiment.

p.s. I tend to forget how fast that sun is actually moving across the sky all day until sunset when I'm fiddling with the camera setting up a shot and can see that red ball disappearing over the edge.

 

[DSettahr]

Shooting-straight-at-the-sun sunset shots are often a challenge for me because of metering choices: sometimes I'll set my exposure for the sun to get a perfectly exposed little fireball, but that renders everything else almost black. Sometimes I meter for the pretty clouds, but that often results in a bleached out sun. Either way, it's fun to experiment.

I got lucky. I shot these with a cheap nikon coolpix without any option to change the exposure.