One of my favorite pictures to take is of a sunrise or sunset. Because I'm usually not awake early enough to capture a sunrise, I thought I would share my tips on taking a good sunset picture. The general principles are the same as you have a mix of darkness with some light mixed in.
- The first thing I always test and recommend playing with is the focus of your night mode. The last thing you want is to have focused on the light source and have your phone camera's algorithm mess up the shot to the point where it looks like a daytime-esque shot.
- The setting I recently started recommending is to see if your night mode allows zooming in. My OnePlus10 Pro has this ability (the picture in this post is zoomed in at the default zoom of 3.3x). I bring this up because I have found that the shots look nicer without all the surrounding environment getting in the shot, especially when it doesn't add to the shot I'm trying to get.
- Lastly, have a stable surface from where to take the picture. You may or may not own a tri-pod, but if you're like me, you don't have one handy. Over the years, I've learned to look at my environment on the go to look for "natural" elements I can use to stabilize my smartphone to get as clear a shot as possible. In today's picture, I used some reflective poles as my surface but I have also balanced one end of my smartphone on a tree trunk so one hand is free to click the shutter, used the back of a bench and straight up sat on the ground to balance my phone on my knees. Whatever the case, be creative and you'll maximize the quality of your shot.
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