Sunset...Was totaly lost!

[lhosphotography]

Hello All,

Sunsets?I took this shot this evening but didnt know were to start! I was clueless. This is the best I could come up with after franticaly trying different settings before the sun whent down.
Most were overexposed and totaly burned out, some the background (sky) was perfect but the sun was burned out and vica versa.
This shot has been tweeked in curves and dodged and burned slightly, Oh and croped.

Also Could somebody please give me some idea of settings I should use? Do I need filters?
Thankyou.

[Iguanasan]

Shooting directly into the sun is a challenge to be sure. I haven't really attempted it that much other than during sunrise/sunset and even then I had similar experience. We'll have to await others comments but I'm thinking if you were to pick up a ND filter or two, put your ISO as low as it will go and max out your shutter speed 1/4000 or something.

You have to find a balance though. If you expose for the sun you'll have very dark clouds and if you expose for the clouds you'll over-expose the sun. This is why HDRs are very popular as it lets you get the best of both worlds.

In either event, I really like what you ended up with! The bright orange is really nice.

[Mad Aussie]

Getting a result like that out of a single exposure looks like a win to me! Nice work!

I've never tried to shoot directly into the sun and get this sort of result so I can but guess at what might help. Like Iggy, I'd be trying a ND Grad filter first.