Shoot a woodland sunset

Adapt your colour and exposure skills to capture stunning sunsets in a forest or woodland.

Woodlands and forests are excellent environments to explore with a camera. From the small details we can find at ground level, to the towering effect of shooting up with a wide-angle lens, there are tremendous possibilities for dramatic shots. A wonderful time to shoot in a forest is sunrise or sunset, where we can capture the low angle of the light raking through the jumble of tree trunks and leaves.

There are of course a number of specific challenges to correctly exposing and framing these complex locations. There is a huge exposure gradient between the shadows and highlights, especially when shooting out of the trees into an open environment beyond. This makes it tricky to hold detail at the extremes of the tonal range. Without the sun visible in the frame this can be made worse through there being a lack of identifiable subject, so that any dark or bright areas are impossible to overlook. There are also exposure hotspots to look out for, where the low sun grazes the sides of the trees. These can blow out, turning into unattractive bright spots. In this tutorial we headed out to demonstrate how to capture the perfect woodland sunset, with a strong sense of compositional direction and superior exposure balance.