[caption id="attachment_6419" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
Everybody loves shooting photos of sunsets. And sunrises, too – but that means getting up very, very early and driving to a selected location. Which is often a lot of trouble. Besides which, there is more dust in the air in the afternoon which exaggerates the color of sunsets and makes them more spectacular. In the early morning the air is cleaner and clearer, so the color is less dramatic.
My bookkeeper loves to take her point-and-shoot camera to the beach and take pictures as the sun goes down. She is not alone. The Internet is full of snapshots by all sorts of people showing the varieties of colors you see when the sun sets. And that’s what sunsets are really all about. There is no “realistic” sunset, no “typical” colors as the sun goes down. There are too many variables involving weather, clouds, atmosphere, dust, humidity, time of the year, attitude and so forth.
[caption id="attachment_6416" align="alignnone" width="593"] The subject of sunset photos is color. Here the landscape, clouds and sky are bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. | Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
The same photo as above in BW. Still some interesting tones and textures but with the color gone it is a totally different kind of picture. Credit: Bill Dobbins
This makes sunsets a great subject for digital photography. Other types of digital photos can show us exaggerated, distorted or unrealistic color but there is so much variety in the colors of a sunset that almost any way they look in a photo might be real in some actual situation. You can see all different shades of red, orange, pink and yellow and even violet, blues and greens when viewing a sunset so who is to say that the colors in any sunset photo can’t be “real?”
[caption id="attachment_6422" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6426" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6429" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
Think of it, can you recall any great sunset photos of Ansel Adams? He captured landscapes bathed in unusual weather and lighting situations like almost nobody else. But he shot almost exclusively in BW so sunsets were not among his subjects. One of his most famous photos, Moonrise Over Hernandez New Mexico was shot just after sunset. It would not have been effective shot in color. There would have been almost no color present in the scene. Not like it would have been just before sunset with the scene bathed in dramatic color.
Sunsets make good backlighting for photos like this. What is needed is some kind of light or reflector used to balance the foreground and background illumination. | Credit: Bill Dobbins
In general, the subject of any color photograph is primarily the color itself. And what is true of color photographs in general is especially the case when it comes to photos of sunsets. They often tend to be so spectacular that is it difficult to come up with what you would consider a bad photo of a sunset. Of course, really capable photographers can produce sunset images that are reliably spectacular and interesting. That is a fact that is often forgotten in this digital age. When snap shooters get super photos it is primarily an accident.
Nonetheless, my bookkeeper has come up with some really nice sunset photos. She just can’t do so on a consistent or predictable basis. That’s because she crunches numbers for a living rather than shooting photos. When it comes to professional photography, you need to rely on somebody you can be sure will do a good job.
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Bill Dobbins is a pro photographer located in Los Angeles. He is a veteran photographer and videographer who has exhibited his fine art in two museums and a number of galleries and who has published eight books, including two fine art photo books:
[caption id="attachment_6423" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6421" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6431" align="alignnone" width="593"] Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6432" align="alignnone" width="593"] The sun near the horizon casts long shadows, which can get into the shot if you aren’t careful. | Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
July 06, 2017
About the Author
Bill Dobbins
Bill Dobbins THE BODY PHOTOGAPHER became well known for his male and female physique photos - images of the aesthetic, athletic body.
Using the same distinctive personal style, characterized by strong graphics and a classic look in both color and BW, Bill Dobbins has also developed a body of work featuring fashion, beauty and glamor photos In a world in which so many images create a level of "noise" that makes it hard for advertisers to be noticed, Bill's work cuts right through the confusion and grabs the eye.
Bill has created two art photos books: The Women: Photographs of the Top Female Bodybuilders (Artisan) and Modern Amazons (Taschen) and his fine art work has appeared in two museums and several galleries.
WEBSITES
BILL DOBBINS PHOTOGRAPHY
www.billdobbinsphotography.com
BILL DOBBINS ART
www.billdobbinsart.com
THE FEMALE PHYSIQUE WEBZINE/GALLERY
www.billdobbins.com
EMAIL: billdobbinsphoto@gmail.com
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
Everybody loves shooting photos of sunsets. And sunrises, too – but that means getting up very, very early and driving to a selected location. Which is often a lot of trouble. Besides which, there is more dust in the air in the afternoon which exaggerates the color of sunsets and makes them more spectacular. In the early morning the air is cleaner and clearer, so the color is less dramatic.
My bookkeeper loves to take her point-and-shoot camera to the beach and take pictures as the sun goes down. She is not alone. The Internet is full of snapshots by all sorts of people showing the varieties of colors you see when the sun sets. And that’s what sunsets are really all about. There is no “realistic” sunset, no “typical” colors as the sun goes down. There are too many variables involving weather, clouds, atmosphere, dust, humidity, time of the year, attitude and so forth.
[caption id="attachment_6416" align="alignnone" width="593"]
The subject of sunset photos is color. Here the landscape, clouds and sky are bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. | Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6426" align="alignnone" width="593"]
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6429" align="alignnone" width="593"]
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
Think of it, can you recall any great sunset photos of Ansel Adams? He captured landscapes bathed in unusual weather and lighting situations like almost nobody else. But he shot almost exclusively in BW so sunsets were not among his subjects. One of his most famous photos, Moonrise Over Hernandez New Mexico was shot just after sunset. It would not have been effective shot in color. There would have been almost no color present in the scene. Not like it would have been just before sunset with the scene bathed in dramatic color.
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6421" align="alignnone" width="593"]
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6431" align="alignnone" width="593"]
Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
The sun near the horizon casts long shadows, which can get into the shot if you aren’t careful. | Credit: Bill Dobbins[/caption]
