Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sunset photography

After being pressured by 2 almost “full-time” sunset photographers, I decided to also give it a try.  The first lesson learnt about sunset photography with the Sony A200 and the 18-70 mm kit lens is to turn off the autofocus and just focus to infinity (maximum on the manual focus).  This prevents the camera from trying to hard on finding the right focus.

DSC03858-1

I like sunset photos that are somewhat underexposed with a dark surroundings and a moon like sun.  As compared to what the eye actually sees. Picture above was taken with the following settings:

  • ISO 100
  • 1/800 shutter speed
  • 200mm (300mm 35mm equivalent) focal length
  • f/8 aperture setting
  • Center weighted metering mode

I have taken a few others when the sun has nearly set and it had this side effect of a pinkish sun.  I am not sure why, so if someone can explain it to me, it would be good.

DSC03870-1

It looks like planet instead of the moon!  From actual view, the pinkish-ness cannot be seen.  I am not sure why the camera pick it up as such.  Anyone knows, is it a Sony sensor problem?  SAL1870DT problem? It’s actually not the moon but another planet?

3 comments:

kuanhoong said...

woo hoo..A200 can take pink sun leh.. our cameras cant do that :(

kuanhoong said...

woo hoo..A200 can take pink sun leh.. our cameras cant do that :(

Unknown said...

Wah....the pic is very nice leh. The cloud contributes a lot of feeling hehe.