One of the most frequently asked question I receive is about what settings to use to photograph a sunset or sunrise.

This image was photographed at Satpura National Park – an amazing place to capture both due to the beautiful watery surroundings. The open grounds offer the added advantage of being the habitat of mammals like the spotted deer so I planned to capture them in silhouette against the magical sky.

To capture sunset or sunrise, you can use :
– WB of around 6000K to get brilliant sky coloration.
– evaluative (Canon) or matrix (Nikon) metering mode.
– shoot in aperture priority mode with f5.6 or f8.
– Keep an ISO of around 400
– use exposure compensation of around -2/3 to -1 stop depending on the intensity of the light and the tonality of the scene. This is a bit tricky as each situation may vary.
– Watch out for the shutter speed and ensure against shaking.
– For a wide angle lens of 17-40mm a minimum shutter speed of around 1/100 should be fine.

Canon 1DX + Canon 17-40 L at 29mm, ISO 320, f5.6 @ 1/60, Evaluative Metering -2/3 Stop, Aperture Priority, WB of 5900K.