7 Tips to shoot better Sunset Timelapse
Hey, what’s up welcome back to another blog post!
Today let me show you 7 tips to shoot a better Timelapse of the Sunset or Sunrise, let's go straight to the first point!
THINK AHEAD
Normally to shoot a sunset it will take you at least 2 hours, so knowing what's is going to happen around your spot, it's very important.
So for example, check that you are far enough from street lights that will ruin your shot when they turn on or don't stand in a place where people will pass in front of the camera.
Once I started a timelapse near a bin in the street and while the sunset was happening, a worker came in and emptied the trash and got in the middle of the frames, for 10 images and ruined the timelapse, that day I learned to stay away from the trash bin.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT INTERVAL
This is very important, it will determine the speed and the dynamics of your timelapse, so if you are shooting with a 15s interval, and the sky fires up with a lot of colours, you will see it only for one or two seconds in the final timelapse.
Instead of the same sunset, if you shot it with a 4 seconds interval, the colours will last at least 10 seconds. To master it you need to make some mistakes.
So don't be afraid to experiment.
Four Towers Sunset day to night
USE VARIABLE ND FILTERS
If you are shooting in the city and in your shot, you have traffic or people close to the camera, you want to consider using Variable ND filters,
So you can have motion blur during the day and when it gets dark, manually decrease the intensity of the ND,
But you need to consider that your shutter speed at the end will be quite long, so be careful choosing the right interval.
SHOOT IN M MODE
I would highly recommend shooting sunsets and sunrise in Manual mode when the light and the contrast between shadow and highlights are very extreme,
for example, if you are shooting a sunrise inside a cave looking outside, the cave is going to be very dark and the outside very bright, if you let the camera do the work, it can easily mess it up, but if you are in control you know how the shot is going to be exposed.
SHOOT IN AV MODE
On the other end, if you have a new mirrorless and the sunset doesn't have a lot of contrast, let the camera do the work, so you can enjoy the sunset without touching the camera.
Of course, you need to trust your gear, I wouldn't shoot in Aperture Priority if the camera doesn't know how to ramp the exposure properly. So, again, experiment.
I only started shooting in Av mode with the Sony A7III, I wouldn't touch the AV mode with the A7II or the Canon 6D.
SET THE RIGHT EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
If you decide to shoot in Av mode, then you need to set the exposure compensation.
I would normally leave it at 0 because my camera can read quite well the light. But if I am shooting a sunset of the skyline i would put it at -0.7 or even at -1EV.
So I am sure that I can recover the highlights.
Setting the right EV Compensation
USE APPS TO HELP PREDICT COLOURS
These days there are a bunch of apps that can tell you if the sunset is going to be epic or not.
These apps can be so helpful when planning a shoot.
I mostly use Skyfire which you can find inside The Photographer Ephemeris on IOS or as a separate app on Android.
If you want a free version check out Mysunset, AlpenGlow or the website SunsetWX.
SkyFire App
Alpenglow App
MySunset App
SunsetWX
BONUS TIP
For you that read till the end.
I know it can be a bit cliché, but experiment and shoot a ton!
Everyone starts from 0, so the more you shoot and make mistakes, the more you will improve and learn from them. I made so many mistakes in my career, still making them... but I learned from them and got better and better.
And that's it! let me know what you think. I hope you will find some of the tips helpful and make step up your timelapse.
If you want to learn more in detail about how to shoot timelapse, check out my book 'Mastering Time' I have it in English, Spanish and Italian. the printed version it's now also available on Amazon.
And that’s it! let me know in the comment if you have other tips to share with everyone that I haven’t talked about. Don't forget to say hi on my Instagram Account and subscribe to my YouTube channel!
I'll see you at the next one! CIAO CIAO
