Where to meter when photographing sunset?

13 years 6 months ago #2152 by Graybrush
Hi everyone.

I just signed up here and was wondering when trying to photograph a sunset, where exactly are you metering? Directly at the sun going down past the horizon, the sky? Thank you


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13 years 6 months ago #2156 by Vladimir
I'm no pro, but I do believe you would meter off the sky just above the sun, or I've read that you can use a neutral gradient filter so that the sun and the foreground will be in exposure. I've not tried this so personally don't know much about this.


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13 years 6 months ago #2199 by Travel Nut
vladimir is correct, meter of the sky and not the sun itself


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13 years 6 months ago #4818 by Lucky One
You could always use a gradient neutral density filter when you have a darker "ground area".


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13 years 6 months ago #4820 by Screamin Scott
Bracket your shots around the meter reading. Meters aren't foolproof & by bracketing, you stand a better chance of getting a good exposure.

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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13 years 6 months ago #4822 by Jackie

Screamin Scott wrote: Bracket your shots around the meter reading. Meters aren't foolproof & by bracketing, you stand a better chance of getting a good exposure.


I was just reading about this. How far do you set your exposures apart from one another?


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13 years 6 months ago #4824 by Screamin Scott
I'd do a 5 shot sequence. One with what the meter shows & then two shots on either side of it, ending up with one shot 2 stops lower, one 1 stop lower, one @ the meter's reading, then 1 one stop over & one 2 stops over....There is one inherent problem though & that is that the Sun's light output changes dramatically the closer you get to the actual sunset....Thus set your bracketing up quickly...

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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13 years 6 months ago #4826 by Jackie

Screamin Scott wrote: I'd do a 5 shot sequence. One with what the meter shows & then two shots on either side of it, ending up with one shot 2 stops lower, one 1 stop lower, one @ the meter's reading, then 1 one stop over & one 2 stops over....There is one inherent problem though & that is that the Sun's light output changes dramatically the closer you get to the actual sunset....Thus set your bracketing up quickly...


Any examples you can share? :)


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13 years 5 months ago #5730 by Graybrush

Screamin Scott wrote: Bracket your shots around the meter reading. Meters aren't foolproof & by bracketing, you stand a better chance of getting a good exposure.


Thanks for help. So how many bracket's are you shooting most of the time? And how often are you doing it that way?


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13 years 5 months ago #5736 by Screamin Scott
I normally shoot at least 3 shots. One @ the meter reading & then at least a stop on either side, sometimes 2 (good for HDR as well)

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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