Photographing Sunset over Oneida Lake
Sunsets and sunrises are often very unpredictable – clouds that look promising may change right as the sun hits the horizon, obscuring the sun’s rays completely, or haze and stormy clouds may open up at the right moment, producing a glorious canvas of color and texture as daylight comes to an end. Photographing sunrises and sunsets is often a waiting game, requiring patience, determination, and a bit of luck. If you set out to shoot them often enough, you will run into many beautiful opportunities, but be prepared for plenty of duds along the way.
To maximize your opportunities, plan to shoot well before and after the sun hits the horizon. For sunrises, the best colors can occur up to an hour before the actual sunrise time, and I find that, especially on days with few clouds, the most intense colors in the sky are about 20-30 minutes before the sun creeps over the horizon. Colors and patterns change rapidly, so by shooting before, during, and after the sun hits the horizon, you can get some beautiful images.
Chris and I endured single digit temperatures while shooting sunset off Phillip’s Point on the north shore of Oneida Lake yesterday. While the sunset was beautiful, the colors were concentrated along a single ribbon of light along only a part of the horizon. Because we got there early, I managed to get a photograph of the sun higher in the sky, partially obscured behind some dramatic clouds, which proved to be a much more dynamic and exciting image than those taken of the sunset itself.
Techs: Canon 1D Mark II N, 17-40mm f/4L, blended exposures of 1/125s and 1/40s, f/22, ISO 200
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