how can i take beautiful sunset photos?

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

06/19/2003 06:42:49 PM · #51

Shrug, i have seen a lot of sunsets photos with a V shape... so that's probably why i didn't notice the V until you mentioned it. Thanks for noticing -- i think it'll be good find out why... maybe it's the lens or atmosphere.... shrug....

Originally posted by Gordon:

Originally posted by paganini:
Gordon:

check this out...
also vshaped

Just searching through sunset photos and found it and others that has the sun with the area V shaped. Perhaps it's a lens issue. In fact, it occurs in many other photographs i have seen out there, especially in HAZY sunsets.

Could be an atmospheric effect then too. Interesting. Though in that region, the brightness is at or around 100% and so is the saturation - giving nowhere to go so I could believe that it is maxing out the available colour range.

magnetic9999

Canon EOS-20D

06/19/2003 06:45:41 PM · #52

Thanks :) ... Yeah that would have been ideal. Problem was I was using 75-300 and I was too close to get them all, even at 75mm. Nor could I back up any farther :/ ...

Originally posted by paganini:

Like your third one (but you should include the third chick on the right that was cut off :))

Journey

Canon PowerShot G3

06/19/2003 06:48:04 PM · #53

Originally posted by paganini:

Oh, THAT??? nothing you can do.... if you have a complex scene, shortening it to 150kb could create it.

I am NOT buying THAT! You don't get it with a complex scene. A complex scene causes you to be able to save for web only at a dismal low quality level. You get it when you have fairly large areas of the same of similar tones. Why the heck should i get up at 4-5 am to capture that magical light only to see things go totally to pot when i do a save for web? Where's the motivation then to get up so early, huh?

JPR

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Super Wide Angle Zoom

06/19/2003 06:51:36 PM · #54

Wow. this was a heavy thread to read through. I really don't think I can distinguish between sunspots, v-shapes, lens flare, noise, and conpression effects. All I can tell is if something looks bad, then I try to fix it. I think I'm going to have to upload a sunset photo to here to have you experts take a look at it and let me know what's wrong with it and what should be done to fix it. It's interesting to see how precise people get when critiquing the technical aspects of sunset shots.

I'm off to find an old sunset...

magnetic9999

Canon EOS-20D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

06/19/2003 06:52:59 PM · #55

i'm not convinced it's not something to do with your video card or monitor, Journey.

We have a Dell laptop at work for example, that even in 32-bit True Color mode, at certain resolutions, produces banding in color gradients.

Can you take a photo of the screen where you're seeing that problem? I'd like to see what your screen is showing. :)

inspzil

Olympus E-510

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0-6.3 EX APO RF HSM for Olympus

06/19/2003 07:29:33 PM · #56

Back to the original question - Be in the right place at the right time and have a camera. Bracket like heck and hope for a couple good ones.

Good luck - Bob

06/19/2003 07:38:28 PM · #57

That sucks, don't we all wish we have a 24-300mm lens that's tack sharp? :)

Originally posted by magnetic9999:

Thanks :) ... Yeah that would have been ideal. Problem was I was using 75-300 and I was too close to get them all, even at 75mm. Nor could I back up any farther :/ ...

Originally posted by paganini:
Like your third one (but you should include the third chick on the right that was cut off :))

06/19/2003 07:46:42 PM · #58

Then increase your size to be greater than 150kb!

the limitation of submitting it here with 150kb is just that -- if you take complext scenes where JPEG can't compress well, you will have to suffer for the bad compression.

Notice the photograph in my portfolio, i think it's named "Reaching the Fractals". It's a B&W tri-tone and even then i was only able to save it at under 50% quality, so lots of leaves appears to be "squares".

Originally posted by Journey:

Originally posted by paganini:
Oh, THAT??? nothing you can do.... if you have a complex scene, shortening it to 150kb could create it.

I am NOT buying THAT! You don't get it with a complex scene. A complex scene causes you to be able to save for web only at a dismal low quality level. You get it when you have fairly large areas of the same of similar tones. Why the heck should i get up at 4-5 am to capture that magical light only to see things go totally to pot when i do a save for web? Where's the motivation then to get up so early, huh?

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

06/19/2003 09:15:24 PM · #59

Originally posted by paganini:

I had another look - its just overexposed. But only in the red channel... If you look, all of the red channel detail is squashed way over to the right - and the worst offending area is a large downward pointing V, ending just below the sun, where you can see the banding.

You might find this interesting. It's a screen capture from Capture One with the channel histograms shown individually in the upper right and the overexposed/ compressed areas of the shot highlighted

Message edited by author 2003-06-19 21:41:59.

06/20/2003 01:35:30 AM · #60

I have no doubt it might be for the red channel (the overall exposure though doesn't exceed it which is what it shows in the camera setting), the question is, i don't think it's the camera or the exposure settings, it might just be what the scene appears through the lens. I mean, it won't make sense that the "V" shape is there, as there are MANY sunset photos with V shapes from either the top or the bottom of the sun.

The question i have is: is that V shape normal for certain sunsets -- given that i have seen it a lot of times in photographs by other people, i think it is, but i am not sure. THat is, even if the red channel was not overexposed (which if it was corrected will still make OTHER areas DARKER, the V will still be present.

Originally posted by Gordon:

Originally posted by paganini:
Shrug, i have seen a lot of sunsets photos with a V shape... so that's probably why i didn't notice the V until you mentioned it. Thanks for noticing -- i think it'll be good find out why... maybe it's the lens or atmosphere.... shrug....

I had another look - its just overexposed. But only in the red channel... If you look, all of the red channel detail is squashed way over to the right - and the worst offending area is a large downward pointing V, ending just below the sun, where you can see the banding.

You might find this interesting. It's a screen capture from Capture One with the channel histograms shown individually in the upper right and the overexposed/ compressed areas of the shot highlighted

Message edited by author 2003-06-20 01:36:42.