Tonight's Sunset Photo

Photographer’s Note

Just taken as the sun was disappearing. At about the same time every day, I look out of the bedroom window in the direction of the setting sun to see what patterns and colours are present in the sky. Tonight's wasn't that remarkable, but the vapour trails caught my eye and I thought they added some interest to the composition.

I experimented by under-exposing by 1 stop and 2 stops as the sun was so bright and I didn't want to bleach out the detail in the sky. This is the -2 stop exposure. I cloned out a lamp-post on the left, added a border and resized. I have posted the original as a Workshop so you can see the difference (prompted by Lewis' critique!).

Hope it all worked.

ISO 100 with white balance set for cloudy.

Thanks for looking.

tcht, wgreis has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

tcht (7298) 2006-02-04 15:47

Hello Vicky,
Very good compo, especially with the trails in the sky. Well positioned tree and nice silhouettes. Overall effect's very pleasant. An enjoyable pic, good work.
Cheers,
Cheukhin

lewiz (1293) 2006-02-04 16:10

Hi Vicky,

Nice shot here... I agree with tcht, the trails really help here. I can't stop any lamppost remains, so you must've done a good job. Well done.

Lewis.

cjmm (4019) 2006-02-04 23:18

Hi Vicky,

Very good quality of light and nice soft colors. The condensation trails add a lot too.

I think you did the right thing exposing at -2 EV with the sun still high over the horizon. You also got very good results with the kit lens (unfairly bashed IMO), even stoped down to f/18.

Did you use RAW? (I find it is so much more flexible than JPG).

Kind regards and a great end of weekend!
Carlos

wgreis (6060) 2006-02-05 14:41

Wonderful composition, Vicky!
The black first level with this wonderful sky is great.
Enjoy with your new camera!!
Congratulations,
Wagner.