how to shoot at sunset?

OmaR

OmaR

Active member
I would like to shoot at sunset with many object in the picture...
for example a tree on the foreground and the sunset in the background.

I'm looking for a look like that:

sunset_1.jpg


with the foreground in silhouette (black).

But as you know, at sunset the light conditions change very fast... How could I properly set the DVX to avoid a black picture? I mean, I want to shoot for a long time and speed up in post
 
Unfortunately, the only way I found to get this right, is to try/test it several times. I got an excellent version after about 5 goes.
 
vidled said:
Unfortunately, the only way I found to get this right, is to try/test it several times. I got an excellent version after about 5 goes.
Click to expand...
not so bad, 5 times is not too much!
anyway, did you set the white balance to 5.600°K? or did you use the manual white balance?
 
Yes, I believe I used 5600K.
Also, one of the main reasons it took 5 goes was weather conditions.
 
There are a couple things. First you'll want to saturate the color and put on all the ND filters you can. You're also gonn wanna try to key for the sky which will get your actors in silloutte. Lowering the master pedistal to about -7 or -10 will give you some solid, rich blacks. Finally, you can go ahead and mess with the color temperature (not the white balance which you should leave at 5600 but the color temp control in image settings) to give it a more orange hue. Overall, it really isn't that hard. It's true the conditions will change fast but if it's just a few shots you should be able to make it. Just do some tests.

The only really bg issue is that, if you want the sun in the shot (as opposed to just it's reflected light), you risk frying the CCD. Not good.
 
DavidBeier said:
There are a couple things. First you'll want to saturate the color and put on all the ND filters you can. You're also gonn wanna try to key for the sky which will get your actors in silloutte. Lowering the master pedistal to about -7 or -10 will give you some solid, rich blacks. Finally, you can go ahead and mess with the color temperature (not the white balance which you should leave at 5600 but the color temp control in image settings) to give it a more orange hue. Overall, it really isn't that hard. It's true the conditions will change fast but if it's just a few shots you should be able to make it. Just do some tests.

The only really bg issue is that, if you want the sun in the shot (as opposed to just it's reflected light), you risk frying the CCD. Not good.
Click to expand...

ok, thank you very much for all these suggestions...

just a couple of questions: if the sun is low, like the one in the picture, exist anyway the risk of fry the CCDs?
and I suppose is impossible to have a sun closeup, right?
 
^
To be totally honest, I really don't know what the risks are. All I know is that the sun CAN damage the CCD or lense. I don't know how much intensity it takes. Logic dictates that having it setting like that would bemuch less dangerous since it's passing through much more atmosphere and thus the light is cooler. That said, I don't know if that's enough to damage it. The only time I dare to point my DVX or HVX at the sun is when I'm passing through trees (like Rashomon) since they'll give me a buffer.
 
You will be shooting into the sun, yes, but you will be exposing for the sky, not the shadows, therefore your lens will be WELL stopped down, probably w/ a fast shutter.

In which case, no risk to CCD.

Just make sure you start off FULLY stopped down and open up to expose, rather than starting off wide open and stopping down.
 
500lb Productions said:
You will be shooting into the sun, yes, but you will be exposing for the sky, not the shadows, therefore your lens will be WELL stopped down, probably w/ a fast shutter.

In which case, no risk to CCD.

Just make sure you start off FULLY stopped down and open up to expose, rather than starting off wide open and stopping down.
Click to expand...

This is really all you need to do. Master ped around -7 like someone else mentioned and expose for the sky, use ND if you have to.
 
Shooting the sun at such late hours won't damage the CCDs. I've seen MANY sunsets shot that way, and never heard of anyone actually damaging their cameras. Remember how much more powerful the sun is in daylight.
 
I believe the potential damage referred to here was more of an issue back in the day when cameras had tubes, not CCD's (that dates me). On the other hand, I had a shoot once where sunlight streamed in through the viewfinder and quite literally burned craters in the plastic inside the viewfinder housing. The viewfinder eyepiece lens acted like a magnifying glass!
 
I did a shot like that a few weeks ago.

I turned on all the ND, and balanced to my strongest warm card.
It looked very similiar to the color of your photo.

The warm balance made all the difference.
 
Green Hornet said:
I did a shot like that a few weeks ago.

I turned on all the ND, and balanced to my strongest warm card.
It looked very similiar to the color of your photo.

The warm balance made all the difference.
Click to expand...

You can also white balance in a deep shadow, or with a daylight filter (the blue one).
 
The way you can fry your Chips is from the sun using the lens as a device that heats the chips.

(Like a eye loop and ants) poooff.

That is where the danger can come in. The angle of the sun in relation to the light passing thru the lens creating heat on the chips.

many factors come into play to make this happen. It is rare, but long enough on the same spot and...

If the camera is locked and is not tracking the sun, then the odds are greatly reduced.
 
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