As much as I love them, however, (ambient) sunset shoots, for me, are a pain in the you-know-what! My subject is backlit, meaning when I focus on my subject the sky is overexposed and I lose the sunset, which was the whole point in the first place. Womp womp. If I focus on and expose for the sky, I might get a really cool silhouette, but if I am wanting to showcase my subject- no bueno. I've found that by exposing right on the edge of my subject, where he/she meets the sky, and overexposing just a bit, I can get some pretty cool exposures.
Still, a lot of times, I simply allow my subject to be underexposed, knowing that I will bring everything out in my post processing. I only bump up my ISO as much as I need to in order to keep the blur away, so that there is as minimal an amount of noise as possible. Then, because I am shooting in RAW, I can open the image in Photoshop the way it was shot, as well as an image that brings out the subject (overexposing the sky), and lay it on top of the original image. Then, I erase the overexposed sky from the top image, and the beautiful sunset on the original image shows through. Voila! These sunset images are very soft... the sunset is barely there, but it is! I felt like it suited the photos best. You can make the sunset as intense or as dark as you want it!
Of course, I could throw a flash unit in the mix and get a great exposure, saving myself the post processing time, and the headache while shooting, but in my opinion, it really takes away that dreamy effect. I love the smoky soft effect of the sun setting naturally behind my subject! I love the artsy sun-flares! I'm willing to use a couple hundred shutter clicks for a couple handfuls of lovely images.
(Note- a very patient model is essential. Sometimes I shoot the same pose four or five times before I get an exposure I am happy with).
This is just one way to get some really cool sunset shots. Of course, there are others! What do YOU do when you are shooting at sunset? How do you solve exposure problems? Let me know in the comments!
If you'd like to see more images from this set, you can "like" and follow me on Facebook, where I will be posting a few. See you there!
P.S. I always start my sunset shoots BEFORE the sun sets! That way, I can get some great images without all of the hassle (safety images!!!). Those moments before the sun sets, the light is nice and soft on the skin, and shadows are not harsh.
P.P.S. I also use these techniques to capture clouds or blue skies in the background, which unfortunately, are rare in Texas. I find myself saying "forget the rules!" and shooting a lot of blank backgrounds... but that is another blog post!
