Four Secrets to Photographing the Elusive Beach Sunset

If you’ve ever been at the beach during the sunset, you’ve no doubt been astounded by its overwhelming beauty. You try and capture it with your camera, but for some reason when you get home and look at the photos, it doesn’t quite do it justice. Read on for 4 secrets that can help you take home more of the essence of the beach sunset.

Frame the Horizon with the rule of thirds
When you place the horizon, divide the photo into thirds and be sure to place the horizon line such that it divides the frame so that the top two thirds is the sky and the bottom third is the water, or try the opposite. This will look much better than if you place the horizon dead center in the middle and will draw the audience’s interest more.

Try photographing it at different intervals
You can’t just take ONE photo of the sunset, and you don’t want to take 50 photos in one minute. You want to space it out, maybe take one every 5 minutes over a span of an hour. In my experience, I have found that usually the sunset gets better as time goes on.

Add some interest with other objects
Look around at the setting, what objects, people, buildings, trees/plants can you use to make the photo more interesting? if you place an object directly in front of the sunset you can get a completely black silhouette shot. Or try juxtaposing the sun with a local landmark on the side. Even better, don’t take a photo of the sun at all, and instead utilize the amazing lighting to photograph other subjects.

Use a Tripod
Usually most people reserve tripods for night shots. But since the light is diminishing, a tripod can be your best friend. Especially in the late sunset once it’s past the horizon. It’s during these times that the sun, now set, can brilliantly illuminate the clouds above. If the light is low, stabilize with a tripod and experiment with slightly longer shutter speeds to see how the light plays out.