How to get a good sunset picture

[isabel95]

That's a possibility that should be tested.

 

[camanokid]

One of my best sunset shots was taken as a portrait photo.
My wife was the person in the photo....we were on a cruise ship at sunset.
I placed here directly in front the the ball of sun....to soften the shot, while retaining the backglow.
I turned on the flash to highlight the foregroung.
The combination was a well lit subject and a terrific background.

 

[ChemMan]

I've been using digital cameras for over 17 years and there has not been ONE that doesn't overexpose highlights. I routinely use minus exposure compensation to prevent loss of detail.
In my regular cameras that have histograms or highlight "blinkies" I use those tools to predict what areas will be overexposed if I click the shutter with the settings the camera chooses.
With the Note 4 I rely on what the lcd shows me - which can still be unreliable since I chose the light level displayed!
For general use I keep the display as dark as possible to preserve battery life, so I can be misled, but if a sunset looks overexposed when I have the display so dark, I know I'm going to have a washed out picture.

You are so right, chuck, about tweaking the camera settings for the best results - and that applies to regular cameras as well!

The other very significant thing about overexposed photos to remember is once the highlights are blown-out they are gone forever. Low exposures to a certain degree can be lightened but not the otherway around.

 

[MalinoisK9]

The purpose of HDR is to increase dynamic range by combining the properly exposed parts of an overexposed and underexposed image. And, during that process, the camera needs to perfectly align multiple images - something that doesn't always work just right. What HDR does, in effect, is brighten shadows and darken highlights - which basically reduces the contrast in an image. In a limited number of images, you may get a better image with HDR on than off. BUT, there isn't anything wrong with an image with limited dynamic range. For example, the sunset images in this post would be ruined had they been taken with HDR on. You would see detail in the dark areas, which would distract your attention from the subject - the colorful sunset - in effect, ruining the image. It would also have made the image "muddy" looking - no eye-popping contrast.

Using sophisticated desktop software, it is possible to get great HDR images, but the scene itself must be just right, and the person using the software must be very knowledgeable about the process. It's impossible for the camera to automate this process and get it right, except for an occasional lucky image.

Limited dynamic range can be a very good thing in photography. The ability to use shadows to eliminate distracting details in an image is a tool that all pro photographers use extensively.

Most of the time, you don't want increased dynamic range in photography.

In the case of the original post I asked if they had tried hrd as it expands dynamic range so I'll try to explain. The short coming of any digital camera with a small sensor and fairly high pixel count is that the pixels are miniscule in size which leads to clipped high lights as the pixels easily fill and overflow into the neighboring pixels, think buckets catching water. Now the op did use a negative expose to keep this from happening as stated in his post. My thought is by utilizing the hdr feature you are lesining the chance of this occurring by allowing for two different exposures which in turn limits the amount of data to the pixels since it is not trying to fit the full dynamic range into one exposure. Of course by allowing the camera to attempt an exposure of the dark area you also now have to worry about the other downfall of a small pixel dense sensor which is noise and trust me it is bad with this sensor. Would hdr have made the shot better? Hard to say since I have not attempted such a shot with this phone.

 

[isabel95]

There is a controversy regarding how hdrs are produced with the Note 4. I thought two images were combined, yet a poster on the dpreview phone forum insists it is only one inmage which is exposed for the highlights. I asked for a link to prove his theory, but he couldn't come up with one.

Here's part of the thread in which we discussed how hdrs are made: Re: So Samsungs HDR mode has changed from this description?: Android Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
If you're interested you may want to read other posts from the author of this one.

 

[MalinoisK9]

There is a controversy regarding how hdrs are produced with the Note 4. I thought two images were combined, yet a poster on the dpreview phone forum insists it is only one inmage which is exposed for the highlights. I asked for a link to prove his theory, but he couldn't come up with one.

Here's part of the thread in which we discussed how hdrs are made: Re: So Samsungs HDR mode has changed from this description?: Android Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
If you're interested you may want to read other posts from the author of this one.

I'll check that out. It may just be using software to achieve the effect since that is how a lot of hdr photos are done thiugh it does seem to expand the range. Fairly new to the phone but pretty happy with the photo results so far. These pics were taken using hdr and have not been edited. This would be my roof that it seems to work. Still detail in the snow and clouds and detail in the darks. Not sure it would have done as well without using it. This isn't me by the way ha.

 

[isabel95]

Nice shot!
Hope you find out how the hdrs in the Note 4 are being made. I'm very curious.

 

[Nick_1020]

Here's a few of my sunsets from the Note 4...

Sometimes hdr can make a rather striking sunset photo:


Out of focus can sometimes work too:

 

[isabel95]

I like that last one the best because of the flared sun beneath the actual sun.

My personal feeling is that when I have so much black undetailed area in an image, less is better than more, and I would have included more of the beautiful sky and moved the horizon down to about 1/3 or less of the image.

 

[MalinoisK9]

Here's a few of my sunsets from the Note 4...

Sometimes hdr can make a rather striking sunset photo:
View attachment 158948

Out of focus can sometimes work too:
View attachment 158949

View attachment 158950
View attachment 158951

Good stuff man! That first one is really nice. These as well as the ops photos show that the Note camera is capable of some really nice images.