# Fire in the sky



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)




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## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

Your rainbow is awesome! The sunset shots are awesome as well. I visited your website and am in awe of your photos! ray:


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Thank you Dori. I hope yo enjoyed the tour :smile:


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## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

Yes!!! Gives me something to aspire to!


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Bless you for saying so. We all feed off each other - I get ideas from seeing other folks work too.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

You've caught the rainbow perfectly Donald, superb against the dark cloud background









I love the sunsets too, #1 for the monochrome colour-range, #2 for the beauty and #3 for the very dramatic 'Fire in the sky' ray:


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Right Place, right time, Right Equipment and above all .. Right Guy with the Right Experience!! Lovely work Donald, like Dori says .. gives us amateurs something to aspire to! ray:


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Flattery like that DF will get you forgiven for deviating from the 5 image rule :Grin:

None the less, thanks.

One of the secrets that I have discovered about taking sunsets is to use a zoom or telephoto lens and get in close to the action. Compare images 2 & 3. They were taken within a few seconds of each other. #2 is at 300mm zoom, #3 is at 50mm zoom

Often what would turn out to be a dead loss, images can be captured from just a small segment of a standard view.

The final image is also at 300mm, just picking out the only bit of decent 'fire'. Slightly under exposed (by design) to get max detail in the fire.

There, the secret is out. I guess the same technique can be used on sunrises too.. I have never tried. I am never up in time! :grin:


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## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

Thanks!! I have always used my 35 prime or 18-55 kit lens. Now I know what to do!! ray:


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

With a staggeringly great sunset/rise that coveres the whole or majority of the sky, a 35mm prime or even the kit lens will be more than enough. One of the other secrets is to take multiple shots, deliberately underexposing by 1, 2 and 3 stops. Don't worry if they look too dark in the camera. You will be surprised by the dramatic results' on the screen. You have to expose for effect, not for a 'correctly' exposed image. 

Experiment with increasing the contrast as well.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

I've found sunrises to be pretty much the same as sunsets, only backwards :grin:


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Addendum to my last post. Shooting into the sun WILL blow out the highlights and the 'fire ' will also be blown. The dynamic range of the sensor just can't hack it. Hence having to under expose quite a bit to compensate.


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## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

ray:


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Thanks for sharing Donald .. both the photos and the (forgive me for saying this) "tricks of the trade" ..ray:


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## poopooman (Aug 9, 2011)

great pictures, do you know what settings your camera was on for the rainbow picture?


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Not having managed to find time to play with stops as yet on my P&S . I have been doing this .. Comments and advice please 

*Original Photo Taken today 10/8/2011*










*Auto Colour Enhance & if it doesn't "kill" the photo Auto White Balance *










*adjust Gamma to 60% (0.60) might vary upon picture content .. *










*Crop as necessary *


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## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

WereBo said:


> I've found sunrises to be pretty much the same as sunsets, only backwards :grin:


Actually the atmosphere is much cooler in the morning - so more blues/purples and less than oranges/reds/yellows. Adjust accordingly.










You've seen this one before but I think it illustrates the difference nicely compared to Donald's.


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

DF: You are getting there and have the right approach. The last image is a vast improvement on the original. You even follow the rule of thirds in the final crop. :wink:. You will have great difficulty in improving on that. The reason being:

Blown highlights are blown highlights and the data therein is totally lost. No end of processing will retrieve them. The only way to get the detail within the highlights, ignoring the sun, is to underexpose dramatically and get the detail that is in the sun illuminated clouds. It is the clouds near to the sun that is illuminated by it that I call 'the fire'.

If the sun pops behind a cloud for a few seconds, try shooting then...

I have an adage that I have used time & time again. Recite it like a mantra: "You can always loose data (detail) but you can never get it if it does not exist in the image in the first place!"

Take a good look at Yustr's lovely sunrise above. The object if interest are the clouds, colour & dynamic range therein. There is the full range of detail there. Nothing is lost. Yet the ground detail is minimal. IE silhouette. That is, to my mind, perfect and lends itself to the interest in the picture and sets the location of the work.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Beautiful photo Yustr & thanks for assisting with Donalds "theme"

Donald, Understood & Thank You 

.. I'd better start learning a few more moves on my camera .. virtually every day has a beautiful sunset here if only I can get to the right point to capture it ..


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

These are amongst the last photos I took, using my previous Olympus - I've always hated getting up early morning, so I took these before I went to bed.... :grin: (All pics untreated, hence the sloping walls etc.)





















I rather like the way the windows have caught the colour-reflections in this one.











Whilst all that was happening, this was at 90-degrees to my left......


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

@ Poopooman: Sorry, I missed your post.

Welcome to TSF & to the Photographer's corner.

The Rainbow shot was taken from my front door, trying to keep dry, out of the rain!
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 15mm fisheye ultra wide angle, with the fisheye distortion removed in Photoshop.
ISO: 200
1/150th @ F/5.0

Had I been able to get home & grab the camera two minutes earlier, I would have got an intense double rainbow..


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

V nice colours WB. Those demonstrate the use of zooming into the sunset/rise.


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## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

DonaldG said:


> ...Had I been able to get home & grab the camera two minutes earlier, I would have got an intense double rainbow..


Then you could have been like this guy: LINK



Sorry, I couldn't resist. :laugh:


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

there should be a governmental health warning attached to that movie .. overexcited, overly noisy, poor camera work and speedy direction changes .. whilst I can understand being overwhelmed by a beautiful view and the double rainbow .. the guy needs to take a pill or two and focus on the task at hand .. :laugh: No way Our Donald would resort to such tactics .. might blow a valve :smile:


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## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

That guy must have had too much coffee!


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

WAY TOO MUCH !!! :lol:


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> the guy needs to take a pill or two and focus on the task at hand .. :laugh:


It sounded as if he had already taken a pill or two... 

I hit the stop button after about 1 minute. Did the men in white coats take him away?





> No way Our Donald would resort to such tactics .. might blow a valve :smile:


:lol: :grin: :lol:


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## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

This is a video tutorial about using the "golden hour" to shoot sunset lit pics - not as much info on lenses, settings as usual for Adorama TV but some excellent shots - stick around, after the closing ads there is footage of cactus attack!

This channel on Vimeo has some very good tutorials on a range of photographic subjects - shooting tips, gear reviews, technical tips and more - worth a browse when nothing else happening in your life :grin:

This is one of my favourite shots of mine taken at sunset - have some more specatacualr colour-wise but this one is more subtle and, to me anyway, pleasing.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

An interesting tutorial with a link to a very handy web-site (that I've now bookmarked :wink '*Golden-hour.com*' to calculate when the 'Golden-Hour' is, anywhere in the world :grin:

Thanks for posting that Zulu










I like the effect of the trees standing just on the ridge in the direct sunlight, superb!










*Note to self:* ~ _Get Kevlar-lined trousers or a suit-of-armour, when anywhere near cacti :laugh:_


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