Phuket Sunset Photos
Sunset happens every single day, and yet everyone seems to be instinctively attracted to it like a fly to a candle, including myself. I don’t pretend to know everything about sunset photography, but I can share some useful tips that might help you improve if you are not happy with your own sunset photos.
1. Plan your photo
Try to decide in advance where you will be when the sun will set come a bit early and take the time to look for the best angle, foreground or subject. When exploring Phuket, mentally note a place that would work well for sunset and try to estimate the movement of the sun: you don’t want to find out at the last minute that the sun will disappear beyond a hill! If you don’t know the sunset time, go to Google and type ‘Phuket Sunset‘ and it will give you the exact time! (Of course, it works for anywhere else).
2. Don’t use flash to shoot the sun!
Don’t laugh, I see it every time I go to Prompthep Cape where hundreds of tourists come to see the sunset from this popular viewpoint. Only use the flash when you take someone in front of the sun, but you will need to set up your camera to fight the right balance between sunlight with a flashlight.
3. Have a subject
Having the silhouette of people or boats break the emptiness of the image and create an attractive focal point.
4. Frame your image
Use foliage, trees or rock. Eyes are naturally attracted by the brighter part of an image and framing helps a lot to lead the eyes to the sun. This applies in daylight photos just the same, it will always look better with something in the foreground, even blur. That’s probably why you frame your photos on a wall 😉
5. Use water reflection
When you are on the beach, look around for wet areas, or wait for a wave to recede. You’ll get two sunset skies for the price of one!
6. How to take a sunset photo without a sunset!
If you look at the photo you will notice that the sun is actually a bit too high to have this really warm yellow tone. I used a little trick to enhance it, and most compact cameras can do this! Switch the colour balance to ‘flash’ and under-expose your photo. (-2 or -3)… that’s all! Try it, take many shots will different settings and level of exposure: with digital cameras, it doesn’t cost anything to shoot and learn!
7. Increase your saturation level
For a better colour rendering, increase the colour saturation on your camera setting. Many people don’t explore their cameras enough so before leaving for a holiday, play around with your camera, and know its features before you go!
8. Don’t go yet!
A photo of a sun setting is nice, but remember that the sky will continue to display a nice range of colours long after the sun has disappeared. Digital cameras can capture this light better than you can imagine. Just practice your ‘steady hand’ not to get blur images, or put the camera on a table if you need. Great for romantic shots.