Sunsets, Blue skies, Oh my!
Let’s talk about sunsets…
Who wouldn’t want a picture-perfect sunset as the background of their portraits? The photographer places you in front of sunset. They take the photo. And it comes out like this…
It’s a beautiful shot…but…what happened to the colorful sky? Where did the orange, pink, purple colors of the sunset go?
The “semi” elusive sunset
Capturing a sunset in a photo has to do with several factors.
Exposure
Moisture
Clouds
First, let’s talk about exposure.
Let's say we have a bright blue sky with some puffy clouds. The sky is always going to be the brightest part of an image because it's filled with light.
In order to keep the color in the sky, I have to place my subject in the same brightness of light. Here you can see that the couple is lit by the sunlight and you can still see some blue sky and clouds.
Direct sunlight is not the most flattering light, so I typically turn my subjects so they are backlit instead. This kind of lighting is the most flattering because it's even and soft. In order to properly expose for my subjects, I have to brighten the image. This is when the sky tends to go white or lose the most color.
“So I can’t have both a sunset and be properly exposed?”
Yes, it is possible. This is why you’ll see some photographers use a flash outside on the beach. The flash is, in essence, matching the brightness of light from the sky, thus allowing the photographer to expose for the sky and still have the subjects properly lit. Here are samples below from other photographers who shoot in this style.
Image by Riverland Studios
Photographer Unknown
Image by Capture Aloha
“But wait a minute. How come my iPhone can capture both?”
That’s a great question! What your iPhone is actually doing is something called HDR (high dynamic range). Without going into a full lesson about what HDR is, your iPhone is taking multiple exposures and putting them together in the same photograph.
Here the sky is properly exposed but you can't see the couple.
Now the couple is properly exposed, but you lose some of the sky.
The iPhone puts the two exposures together in the same photo for you.
Here’s another example of a photographer doing HDR manually by taking multiple exposures and combining them into one final image.
Images by Klaus Herrmann
“Didn’t you say something else about moisture and clouds?”
Oh yes! Back to the other sunset factors. Having more moisture in the air actually helps soften the light because the light rays are being filtered through microscopic drops of water in the air. Having clouds in the sky also helps soften light and add substance to the sky so it’s not just bright light coming through.
Depending on the amount of moisture in the air and cloud formations that day, sometimes, you get what I call, “magical sunsets.”
The above photograph was created with no light modifiers. The sky had just the right amount of moisture and clouds. So, with the help of some post-processing edits, I was able to capture the magical sunset light and still keep proper exposure on the couple.
“But what if we don’t get a ‘magical sunset’? Does that mean I won’t have photos with the pretty sunset in the background?”
Never fear! I will do my absolute best to retain as much of the sky in the photograph as possible. I have multiple methods to help balance the lighting during our session. It should be noted that not all of your photos will have a fully exposed sunset or blue sky. Some will have that “glowy” light-look instead. Nevertheless, you will end up with lovely images because the star of photos is you, not the sky! :)
