SHOOT A WOODLAND SUNSET

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

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.

Inset

INCORRECT BALANCE

Without the sun in the scene there is little direction for the viewer’s eye to follow, while the wide contrast has resulted in bright spots and missing highlight detail

BEFORE

1 PLAN COMPOSITION Woodlands are tricky to compose due to the amount of details. Find a clear view of where the sun will appear between the trees, while minimising the presence of the forest floor and distractions.

2 ZOOM IN With your general shooting position worked out, use a telephoto lens to compress the trees, minimising empty spaces in between. This will also make the sun larger in the scene, highlighting it as a subject.

3 SET APERTURE A wider aperture will create a softer glow around the sun, as it appears behind the trees, while a smaller aperture will create a harder ‘starburst’. This will alter the dreamy aesthetic of the scene.

AFTER CLEAR FOCAL POINT IN A BUSY SCENE SUCH AS THIS IT IS IMPORTANT TO PROVIDE A SUBJECT – IN THIS CASE THE SUN ITSELF. WE HAVE ALSO CORRECTED THE BLOWN HIGHLIGHTS

6 PUSH EXPOSURE With the settings selected to expose for the highlights on the tree trunks, increase the shutter speed to expose ‘to-the-right’. Stop just before detail is blown and this should lift the foreground shadows.

4 SPOT METERING Switch to Spot metering mode and take a meter reading from the highlights in the trees, away from the sun itself. This will ensure highlight detail while avoiding underexposure of the darkest shadow areas.

5 LOCK EXPOSURE With the sun present, either use the auto-exposure lock button (AEL) or take note of the suggested exposure settings and enter these in Manual. This stops the exposure changing between shots.