Sunset: I could not get the colours right!

[joebranko]

I tried numerous exposures to try to catch this sunset as I saw it. Although the colours here are dramatic, I could not produce what I saw at the moment.
The problem is in the 'eye' of the shot, shown here as a bright yellow, was in fact a pale translucent blue, somewhat like as shown in the second pic.

Second Pic.

[dje]

Joe I'm not certain but I think your problem stems from severely blown highlights around the sun area.

Dave

[Shadowman]

Are you treating each section (cloud, horizon, foreground) separately during the post processing?

[joebranko]

Joe I'm not certain but I think your problem stems from severely blown highlights around the sun area.

Dave

Thanks Dave. Yes the area is severely blown. But when I tried reducing the exposure to avoid this, the rest of the shot is severely underexposed. I have not been a ke to correct this in pp.

[joebranko]

Are you treating each section (cloud, horizon, foreground) separately during the post processing?

I tried but am not sure how well Lightroom does this.

[dje]

Thanks Dave. Yes the area is severely blown. But when I tried reducing the exposure to avoid this, the rest of the shot is severely underexposed. I have not been a ke to correct this in pp.

Joe graduated neutral density filters can help with with this sort of scene by balancing up the brighter areas of the scene with the darker areas however if you have direct sun in there it's difficult to deal with the extreme brightness of the sun. Once the highlights are severely blown, there's not much you can do to make it look natural.

Dave

[joebranko]

Joe graduated neutral density filters can help with with this sort of scene by balancing up the brighter areas of the scene with the darker areas however if you have direct sun in there it's difficult to deal with the extreme brightness of the sun. Once the highlights are severely blown, there's not much you can do to make it look natural.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I will have to get a graduated ND filter. I often shoot sunsets so I think that would be a good investment. Is there any manufacture/model you could suggest? I tried Lightroom's graduated filter in pp but did not like the result.

[Shadowman]

I tried but am not sure how well Lightroom does this.

You can use the graduated filter on the adjustment panel.

[joebranko]

You can use the graduated filter on the adjustment panel.

I tried that, but it seemed to add a grey colour to the exposure. It seemed unnatural. I think I might have to invest in a graduated ND filter.

[dje]

I tried that, but it seemed to add a grey colour to the exposure. It seemed unnatural. I think I might have to invest in a graduated ND filter.

Joe the best form of GND filter system to use is one using square filters that slide into a square frame. They come in various sizes from 67mm to 100mm. You need to buy a system which comprises a filter holder, mounting adapter to suit the filter ring size on your lens, and one or more GND's of various types (1 stop, 2 stop, 3 stop, hard or soft grad etc).

Cokin are a popular lower end brand but the more you pay the better they are. Eg Lee are very good but expensive. Formatt/HiTech are the ones I use and I guess these could be classed as mid-range.

However there is one important proviso - you need to be using a lens whose front element doesn't rotate with focus change. I think your EF-S 18-55 does have a front element that rotates so it would not be a candidate for GND's I'm afraid.

Dave

[joebranko]

Joe the best form of GND filter system to use is one using square filters that slide into a square frame. They come in various sizes from 67mm to 100mm. You need to buy a system which comprises a filter holder, mounting adapter to suit the filter ring size on your lens, and one or more GND's of various types (1 stop, 2 stop, 3 stop, hard or soft grad etc).

Cokin are a popular lower end brand but the more you pay the better they are. Eg Lee are very good but expensive. Formatt/HiTech are the ones I use and I guess these could be classed as mid-range.

However there is one important proviso - you need to be using a lens whose front element doesn't rotate with focus change. I think your EF-S 18-55 does have a front element that rotates so it would not be a candidate for GND's I'm afraid.

Dave

Thanks again Dave. Good observation re the turning of the focus ring. I checked and found that it does.!