How to take Great Sunset Photos
Your guide to taking the most stunning sunset photos every time! With these tips, you’ll be sure to capture envy-inducing, aesthetically pleasing sunset photos, no expensive equipment needed!
Timing Sunset Photos with the Weather App
Based on the stages of the sunset, we can put the sunset time on any weather app into context. If the goal is a sunset photo of the sky, horizon, and clouds, then I’ve got the perfect time estimate for all you type-A planners out there: the “sunset” time on apple weather is going to happen about 20-30 minutes before the sky changes colors. The best chance to see the sky painted in beautiful deep pinks, oranges, and purples is actually after the official sunset time.
Stages of a Sunset
Golden Hour
Golden hour officially starts when the sun is 6 degrees above the horizon line. This is probably the most well-known time for taking photos. Sunset colors are still over an hour or more away, depending on how far from the equator you’re standing. The lighting here is ideal for taking photos of people, things, and landscapes.
Sunset
The official sunset happens when the sun crosses the horizon. Think about it as the time you’d see the sun disappear beneath the ocean (if you’re lucky enough to live on the west coast). The angle is 0 degrees. There’s still plenty of time between sunset and when the sky goes dark.
Civil Twilight
Civil twilight happens when the sun is between 0 and 6 degrees below the horizon line. You can’t see the sun anymore, but it’s still light outside. Depending on where you live, this phase lasts for about 30 minutes after the official sunset time. This is when the sky is oozing with its deepest, most vibrantly colorful hues. I think of civil twilight as the best time for sunset photography.
Nautical Twilight
Nautical twilight happens when the sun is between 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon line. It is so named because this time marks the sweet spot between being able to see stars while still being able to see the horizon line, all without any artificial lighting. At this point, photos of anything but the sky and horizon (say, of people, objects, or terrain) are going to start to look blurry due to lack of exposure.
Astronomical Twilight
Astronomical twilight is a great time to observe planets and stars if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere without too much light pollution. The colorful sunset hues are gone at this point, and many would call this “night” even though there is still some light left in the sky. The horizon has taken on a true blue and is quickly fading to black.
Photography Tips
Clouds are your friend. This might feel counterintuitive. Don’t we want a clear shot, clear sky, and perfect, uninterrupted color banding? Sure, clear conditions might make for a good photo. But even with clear skies, there’s a chance that the sunset colors will be flat, monotone, and quite frankly, boring. The right type and level of cloud cover adds depth, texture, and interest to the shot. All this to say – don’t cancel your sunset photo plans just because the forecast is cloudy.
Rule of thirds. Beach sunset shots look even more interesting when the sand and shoreline are featured in the frame, too. I recommend you squat down to really get level with the water coming towards you. Using the rule of thirds, try putting the first dividing line where the sand meets water, and use the horizon as the second dividing line. In a perfect shot, you’ll capture the grainy, close-up texture of the sand, the foam and current lines in the water, and the soft painted sky all in one.
Sets in the west. One of the biggest frustrations I had while living in Fort Collins, Colorado, was that the Rockis blocked the lighting before the sun ever crossed the horizon. If you live somewhere with plenty of mountains, there’s going to be an issue with lighting as the sun crosses the faux “horizon” that is your mountain range. In my experience, the best lighting for sunset shots in this case is when you’re pointing the camera away (east) from the sun. Unfortunately, this also means that your back is to that beautiful mountain range, and unless you have mountains on both sides, this means ignoring the main subject of your sunset shots.
Photographing people. Sunsets can be tricky for photographers with human subjects in their photos. If you’re using an iphone, I would get super comfortable with the screen tapping feature, because there’s truly no other setting where this feature will be more relevant. When you tap your subject, the iphone will adjust to brighten their face and bring it into focus, leaving the background dark. Tap the sun or sky behind them and you’ll find their faces disappear into blackness. The ideal setup is to angle the shot so that the set sun is directly (90 degrees) to your left or right.
The Green Flash
I was 27 years old when I learned about the “green flash” phenomenon. The green flash is super rare – rare enough to push it into the realm of urban legend material. But those who have witnessed it are convinced. My hosts during my stay in Portugal have seen it, and they convinced me it’s real. Whether it’s true or not, it’s much more fun to move through life thinking that it could be.
What is the Green Flash?
According to those who have seen it, the green flash happens just as the sun crosses the horizon. For an instant – no more than a second or two – the horizon line will “flash” bright green as a phenomenon known as atmospheric refraction occurs. If a strong enough temperature gradient exists between the ocean’s surface and the air above, then sunlight’s red and blue hues refract twice, away from our line of vision. Green light stays somewhere in between, leaving us with a mirage of green around the sun.
How to See the Green Flash
It’s important for the sky to be clear to have the best chances of seeing the green flash – so a night with little to zero cloud cover. The best place for an even, clear horizon is over the ocean, a lake, or a large sound.
