Help Me Out on these Sunset Pictures!

[KLR]

Last evening I got to see what was possibly the best sunset I have ever seen in my life. So I could not help but to take some pictures.

I have a few questions about the composition of a good sunset photo when there is basically nothing around except the water and the sun.

Do I need to include some grass? or just leave it as the water and the sun?
Also, should I edit colors or leave them more natural? I basically left them alone in the following images.
Is there a way to prevent the sun from looking basically white in the center? Maybe I am doing something wrong with the settings?
How do I eliminate what appears to be light layers around the sun in my image? Or is that just part of it as well? I tried photoshop, but most of the time it would make the layers more noticeable.
Lastly, how should I crop pictures like these with not a lot going on?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Reef Pets]

Great shots! Personally I like the first and the last two. The second photo, the grass seems to pull me toward it instead of noticing the beauty of the sunset. The third photo is my favorite.
I can't really help you on the other questions but there are some PS gurus on here that will certainly be able to offer some suggestions.

 

[Just Clownin Around]

they look beautiful as they are

 

[nater]

I like the first one the best! The small amount of grass to me gives a great little break up

 

[soccerbag]

Kelby, the images look great. Not sure where those were taken but they are beautiful. I'm sure Gary or Poseidon can help with you advanced questions. For me, the images would be a bit better if the sun was not centered (horizontally). I think I've seen Gary post before that when shooting pics of water and sky, you don't necessarily want the water line to be in the center of the pic. Either show more sky or more water. I don't want to speak for him though.


I think off-setting the sun to the left or right of center would have allowed you to capture more of the sky colors and water reflection (which may make for a more interesting photo). But I am really being picky. I think they look great and would be happy to have any of them framed in my home : ).


I'll interested to hear what the experts have to say. Good stuff!

 

[KLR]

Great shots! Personally I like the first and the last two. The second photo, the grass seems to pull me toward it instead of noticing the beauty of the sunset. The third photo is my favorite.
I can't really help you on the other questions but there are some PS gurus on here that will certainly be able to offer some suggestions.

Thank you! I think I like the very last one the most, but I am not sure why,hahah. Ok, thanks for the review on them!

they look beautiful as they are

Thank you

 

[KLR]

I like the first one the best! The small amount of grass to me gives a great little break up

Thank you!

Kelby, the images look great. Not sure where those were taken but they are beautiful. I'm sure Gary or Poseidon can help with you advanced questions. For me, the images would be a bit better if the sun was not centered (horizontally). I think I've seen Gary post before that when shooting pics of water and sky, you don't necessarily want the water line to be in the center of the pic. Either show more sky or more water. I don't want to speak for him though.


I think off-setting the sun to the left or right of center would have allowed you to capture more of the sky colors and water reflection (which may make for a more interesting photo). But I am really being picky. I think they look great and would be happy to have any of them framed in my home : ).


I'll interested to hear what the experts have to say. Good stuff!

They were taken in the OBX, in Rodanthe, NC to be exact. Yea, these are the whole images. I have not cropped them yet because I was unsure on how much sky,water,etc. I should leave in the picture. You are probably right on the off-set thing, I did not think of that while I was taking these. Thank you!

 

[BarbH]

Great shots, I like the first one with the way that the grass helps to draw your eye to the sunset in my opinion. Also I like the last one to me what I think that draws me to that picture is the texture that the lighting gives to the water. I agree with trying to offset the horizon so that it is not straight in the middle of the frame, the idea of using the rule of thirds to help add interest to the picture. I would not adjust the coloring personally, what you can try is using different exposure times to see how it changes. One of the things that I would do especially when I was really into using film was that I would shoot my picture at what my camera suggested, and than I would bracket and shoot at 1 to 2 stops above and under.

 

[KLR]

Great shots, I like the first one with the way that the grass helps to draw your eye to the sunset in my opinion. Also I like the last one to me what I think that draws me to that picture is the texture that the lighting gives to the water. I agree with trying to offset the horizon so that it is not straight in the middle of the frame, the idea of using the rule of thirds to help add interest to the picture. I would not adjust the coloring personally, what you can try is using different exposure times to see how it changes. One of the things that I would do especially when I was really into using film was that I would shoot my picture at what my camera suggested, and than I would bracket and shoot at 1 to 2 stops above and under.

Thank you. Ok, do you have any suggestions on cropping the images above to make them more eye appealing?
I have heard of people doing that, but I have never tried it myself. I might have to some time!

 

[KLR]

Here is another one with the tiny beach in the picture. I feel like the darkness of the beach is a slight distraction. What do you think?

 

[BarbH]

I like how the sun is not in the center in this one. The silhouetting of the beach I think helps to add some feeling of depth to the picture while still having the sunset at the focus. I myself haven't played around much with doing cropping on digital images. One of the things that I am hoping to get back into more this summer. Hopefully someone who has more experience with cropping in post processing can give you some ideas.

 

[Reefer831]

they all look good...I thought you were taking them from a boat at first..the water level look crazy in the first pic's...you would love taking sunset pics where I am from....Monterey Ca, witch has Pebble Beach, Carmel, and big sur with in 15 min of each other...lots of things to take pic's of, you inspire me to take my camera outside...

 

[KLR]

I like how the sun is not in the center in this one. The silhouetting of the beach I think helps to add some feeling of depth to the picture while still having the sunset at the focus. I myself haven't played around much with doing cropping on digital images. One of the things that I am hoping to get back into more this summer. Hopefully someone who has more experience with cropping in post processing can give you some ideas.

Thank you, and no worries on the cropping thing. I am sure someone can give me some pointers there.

 

[KLR]

they all look good...I thought you were taking them from a boat at first..the water level look crazy in the first pic's...you would love taking sunset pics where I am from....Monterey Ca, witch has Pebble Beach, Carmel, and big sur with in 15 min of each other...lots of things to take pic's of, you inspire me to take my camera outside...

The beach is maybe 5 inches higher than the water where I was taking pictures at. I would love taking pictures in CA for sure! I have never visited the state! Thank you!

 

[clowns101]

Stunning shots! Very nice composition, and I in fact like the grass in the first picture, it adds some interesting points to the photo other than the sun!

And nice vingetting on the photos!

 

[KLR]

Stunning shots! Very nice composition, and I in fact like the grass in the first picture, it adds some interesting points to the photo other than the sun!

And nice vingetting on the photos!

Thank you! I did not add that in ps, so I guess it was created naturally on the photos by the sun?

 

[clowns101]

Thank you! I did not add that in ps, so I guess it was created naturally on the photos by the sun?

Must have been unless you wre using a lens that had a huge aperature on it like a 50mm 1.4 of bigger.

 

[Poseidon]

Overall, I think this is a strong set. As others have mentioned, a dead center horizon is to most, less then ideal. When you are composing a sunset, I like images that have an off center composition, with "something" that leads your eye into the focal point. That something could be beach, sand, clouds, piers... The color is fantastic, and given where you were, you did very well with what you had to work with.

As for the vignette, that is created in this case by the camera as a whole, the center of the image is so much brighter then the outer edges. The effect is not so visible to US as it is to the camera, as our eye and brain work together to make the whole sky look a very similar brightness, when it isn't.

 

[arch85]

I like the first one the best.

 

[mysunrisepictures]

I like the ones with the grass, I like the ones where thesun is rising and half up and half down. I am talking about the last one. Bythe way, I also take man sunrise pictures In Florida, so feel free to checkthem out. http://www.mysunrisepictures.com