In this lesson: Discover crucial tips that will take your sunset and sunrise photos to another level

Photographing sunrises and sunsets takes proper planning, a willingness to manipulate your camera settings, and smart compositional choices to maximize your success.

Sunrise and sunset is an optimum time for photography because the lighting is so pleasing. You’ll often find a nice, warm light, particularly at sunset, that gives the scene a soft glow. At sunrise, the light tends to be cool and crisp, giving you an opportunity to create images that mimic the cool morning air.

Of course, just as we discussed with landscape photography, sunrise and sunset shots are more work than pulling the car over and taking a photo out the window. Instead, they often require a lot of planning and camera manipulation.

Plan It Out

Planning is an essential component of a successful photo shoot. Photographing the sunrise or sunset is no exception.

In fact, sunrise and sunset photos might need even more planning than other types of photos because the quality of the light and the colors of the sunrise or sunset changes from one minute to the next. So, if you don’t plan well and you’re late to arrive, you might miss the best part of the show.

In addition to giving yourself time to get to the shoot location, you’ll also need to think about the type of composition you’re looking for. For example, do you want a shot that focuses on the sky with very little foreground? Do you want to highlight the sunrise coming from behind a mountain peak? Will you endeavor to use a reflection from a lake to add more drama to the shot? These are just a few questions to consider when planning your early morning or late evening shoots.

Work Your Exposure Magic

This is not the time to take one or two images, pack up, and leave. Instead, challenge yourself to work with your exposure settings to see how you can create more interesting sunrise or sunset photos.

For example, you might shoot in aperture priority mode and play with depth of field, taking some photos with a small aperture to get the entire scene in focus and others with a large aperture to use the sunrise or sunset as a blurry, colorful background rather than as the primary subject. Likewise, you might shoot in shutter priority mode to blur the movement of clouds with a long exposure (just be sure you have a reverse neutral density filter on hand, which will give you a better exposure given the placement of the sun near the horizon).

You might also try bracketing your exposures. All that means is that you create an image with your desired settings, then slightly overexpose the scene in the next shot, then slightly underexpose the scene in the shot after that by manipulating ISO, aperture, or shutter speed. The series of images that results will give you slight variation in the exposure as well as the coloring of the shot so you can select which one is the best.

Don’t Forget Composition

Obviously, the star of a sunrise or sunset image will often be the colors and the lighting. However, don’t get caught up in capturing just those elements because the image can have the most gorgeous colors in the world, but if the composition is off, the photo won’t be received well.

One issue to avoid is placing the sun right in the middle of the frame. Sometimes – though certainly not all the time – this can result in an image that looks far too static. Instead, remember the rule of thirds and place the sun to the left or right of center and the horizon above or below center. Doing so will get you a more interesting composition, as seen in the sample image of Horseshoe Bend at sunset.

Another compositional choice you can make is to create a sunrise or sunset shot that includes a silhouette. Looking at the sample silhouette image, you can see how the shape of the human figure adds a certain level of drama to the shot. Rather than solely focusing on the colors in the background, the viewer now has something else to gaze upon and interact with. The beauty of silhouettes is that they are easy to create – you don’t have to change your camera settings at all. Expose for the sky, and the figure will be nicely cast in shadow.

Challenge Activity

Put your learning to the test by planning and implementing a sunrise or sunset shot that features a silhouette.

Step 1: Identify an ideal spot to take in a sunrise or sunset. Check the weather for the day you plan to take photos and determine how long it will take you to get to the spot, leaving at least 30 minutes to scout the precise shooting location and to get your gear setup.

Step 2: Place your camera on a tripod and frame up the shot, being sure to incorporate a person or other object in the frame to create a silhouette.

Step 3: Take a meter reading from the sky, ensuring that the image will be well-exposed for the sunrise or sunset. Use an aperture of around f/11 to get a good depth of field, dialing in an appropriate shutter speed to match (or use aperture priority mode).

Step 4: Compose the shot, remembering to try to avoid placing the sun in the middle of the frame. Also try to shift the horizon either above or below the horizontal midline of the image.

Step 5: Focus ⅓ of the way into the scene to get the maximum depth of field. Once set, fire the shutter. Check your exposure and make adjustments, as needed.