[sealonsf]

I have a K5 - what settings do you suggest I use for a sunset photograph?

Thanks!

[JinDesu]

What do you want to capture? The lovely purple lights in the sky? The sun as it is halfway down the horizon? The landscape as it is illuminated?

Offhand, I'd say start with F8, ISO 100, and whatever shutter speed that gives you. If you want a cool effect, F22 and you'll get the sun to look like a star as it sets.

[sealonsf]

What do you want to capture? The lovely purple lights in the sky? The sun as it is halfway down the horizon? The landscape as it is illuminated?

Offhand, I'd say start with F8, ISO 100, and whatever shutter speed that gives you. If you want a cool effect, F22 and you'll get the sun to look like a star as it sets.

I want saturated colors -- don't want the camera to compensate all the saturation out. I'll try the F8, ISO 100. Thanks!

[JinDesu]

Well colors will depend heavily on lens and what's actually out there. ISO 100 (or actually ISO 80 on the k-5, forgot it can go a little bit better) will give you the greatest dynamic range and capture more detail in the scene.

Best to also have a tripod handy, as F8 and ISO 80 may drop your shutter speed to quite slow. Try to expose for the sky - point at the sky, check what settings will get you to 0EV (or up to +0.7EV) - the sky gives the most colours.

[sealonsf]

Try to expose for the sky - point at the sky, check what settings will get you to 0EV (or up to +0.7EV) - the sky gives the most colours.

I got the point at the sky part, but you lost me at 0EV (or up to +0.7EV).

[JinDesu]

Depending on how you check your light levels - inside the viewfinder, you can either look at the little bar where you try to get the light level to be in the middle. In my k-x, it tells me the light levels in EV (-3EV to 3EV). 0EV means your scene is exposed properly, or at least the bit you are pointed at. +0.3EV means you are overexposed a third of a stop. +0.7EV means you are overexposed 2/3s of a stop.

The reason why I suggest exposing towards 0.3 or 0.7EV is because the areas of the sky further away from the sun will darken very quickly - but they still may have very interesting color. 0.7EV will not make the sky seem overbright, and you can edit that in post processing.

Some people prefer to shoot 0EV or underexposed and then recover the darker areas in post processing. I feel that when it comes to sunset, the sun is always going to be overexposed, and most of the sky will be a reasonable light leve.

[Bob from Aus]

Hi Mate - not so dumb and is an interesting question

All good advice so far. What you might really be wanting to get the result you are looking for is a graduated filter. This will darken the sky so you get more detail in the landscape while exposing the sky they way you want it. I prefer darker graduated filters. As well I then use the graduated filter in lightroom 3 to get the balance I want between the foreground and the sky.

[Ash]

Expose for the sky's colours. The camera won't be able to tell what you want to expose for with such a high contrast scene. Start off with multi-segment metering in an auto mode (depending on what variable you want to control), then based on that flip to M mode and adjust each portion of the exposure triad to get the exposure and effect that you want.

[JinDesu]

Alternatively, do in-camera HDR or bracket 3 shots (1EV difference) and center the exposure on the sky.

[thebigcat]

Another important point here is whether you have the camera set up for spot, center weighted, or full scene exposure metering.

[demp10]

You may want to set the camera to take multiple exposures (e.g. 5) with 1/3 or 2/3 stops difference from each. Then you choose the one that best captures what you wanted to see and start from there the post processing.

If you use a tripod (and you should) you can even do an HDR with some of the frames. Just be selective since HDR many times gives very unnatural images, and sunsets are about capturing the mood rather than a correct exposure.

[Adam]

The only dumb thing about your question was your thread title, so I went ahead and changed it to reflect the question itself

[interested_observer]

I would add to all of the previous suggestions to....

• Use ISO 80 which is the extended ISO range. In this way you are maximizing the sensors Dynamic Range.
• Multi-segement or center average metering rather than spot metering, in order to meter more evenly across the entire frame.
• I like to bracket at 5 frames at +/- 2ev per frame - in this way I can again maximize the dynamic range being captured.
• Tripod, 2 second delay, wired remote shutter release

Here is one of my first captures using my new K5 - full moon, well after sunset (when I got home from work)...

• https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/174306-cityscape-camel.html

[Clicker]

Alternatively, do in-camera HDR or bracket 3 shots (1EV difference) and center the exposure on the sky.

+1 on this and you can tweak it further to your liking.

You'll want to start shooting ~30mins prior and ~30mins after or where you want to catch the falling Sun on the horizon.

don't forget tripod and cable release/wireless remote

[mysticcowboy]

Turn the the over exposure warning (blinking lights) on in your image review. You probably want the sun and the area just around it to be overexposed, but only that much. Take a photo and see how much of the image is overexposed. I generally use aperture priority and adjust the exposure compensation to limit just the sun or very close to the sun to be overexposed. No guesswork involved.