Sunset photography is heavily misunderstood.

People seem to get the impression that its “basic”, “unoriginal”, or “uninspired”.

“Only beginners take photos of sunsets, but not me because I’m better than that.”

And that to ascend the hierarchy of photography you’d have to do something edgier like street photography, something proven like landscape photography, or something professional like wedding photography.

I think that’s all bullshit.

I love sunsets.

Period.

Whether it’s a clear sky during golden hour or an unexpectedly massive gorgeous cloud formation, there’s nothing that gets me going more than a nice sunset.

And I’ve spent the last year and a half to two years chasing sunsets specifically - I’d even go as far as to say it’s what saved my photography.

It’s to the point where I made my latest photography zine “The Sinking Sun” on sunsets alone.

Which is still available for pre-order if you’re interested.

(Shameless self promotion) The first edition softcover is limited to only 50 copies, while the special edition hardcover is limited to just 10 copies.

Plus you’ll get an additional 11x14 fine art print complimentary with all pre-orders.

The point is: you don’t have to take photos of sunsets if you don’t want to.

But if you do, I’ll share with you guys everything I learned about photographing sunsets.

From big ideas that helped me build this book to little details that will make the process easier.

Lets get started.

Keep Your Horizons Level

The biggest problem I see many beginner photographers do is they don’t keep their horizons level.

They’ll walk up and go take a picture of some gorgeous sunset for their Instagram but they’re not paying attention to how it’s being framed.

They’re just trying to get something in their phone.

This may be obvious to some of you, but here’s why its important to keep your horizons level.

As humans, we don’t see the world from a tilted angle.

Rather, our body is constantly working to keep our viewpoint level.

You can try this exercise right now.

Tilt your head left and right and pay attention to how the world changes.

Notice how despite how much you tilt, everything stays level?

That’s because our bodies have equilibrium centers in our ears that allow our perspective to stay upright.

I don’t remember the science behind it - you can google it if you’re interested.

But when you’re taking pictures of anything it’s important to keep things level because that’s how our brain sees the world.

Off-level images may create for some interesting and artsy photos but for 99% of the images you take, you want them to be level.

That way, your photos can register intuitively and make more sense for the viewer.

So how do we go about doing this?

methods to keeping your horizons level photography

The simplest way to go about it, and my preferred way, is to eyeball it.

When taking photos, pay close attention to whether things are level or not - and get good at straightening things out.

When it comes to sunsets specifically, you can use the horizon as an anchor.

Meaning, stare at the horizon and make sure the line is parallel to the edges of your frame.

Another way to go about it is by using a leveler.

Most cameras nowadays have a setting that you can turn on which tells you whether or not your image is level.

Turn that on and go take pictures.

I personally prefer not to do this because it interferes what what I actually see in the frame.

The third and final method to leveling out your horizons is to do it in post.

This isn’t my preferred method, because “fixing it in post” is always a pain.

But I’ll use this method if I mess up in real time.

Simply go in your editing software, find the rotation tool and rotate it until it looks right.

Voila, you’re set.

So, those were 3 ways to level out your horizons.

If you just do this and ignore everything else in this video, your sunset photography will be 10x better.

Lets move on.

Location Matters

Another problem you’ll face when trying to take gorgeous photos of sunsets is location.

Location matters.

Very much so.

Many times location is actually more important than the camera you’re using and even your skill level as a photographer - because if your location sucks, your photos will suck.

Imagine a gorgeous beautiful sunset that’s hidden behind trees, buildings, and other obstacles.

There would simply be no way to get the shot.

Of course this depends on what you’re trying to take a picture of, but if I had to choose between a photo with a building and a wide open view of the sunset, the wide open view always wins.

The solution to this dilemma is to go somewhere with an open view.

This can be on top of a hill or building.

Any viewpoint where you’re unobstructed by objects.

A solid viewpoint will allow you to more clearly see the bigger picture as well as finer details.

Also pay attention to where the sun sets - the west.

If you can find a spot where you’re looking out west, you’ll be able to get the sun just as it crosses the horizon.

I would recommend having a few go-to spots that allow you to reliably get good sunset photos.

Somewhere you know that by going there, you’ll get good photos.

This will eliminate any decision making when picking where to go.

Use Scale

The problem with a lot of people’s sunset photos is that they look less impressive than the sunset actually is.

People take photos of an epic sunset but it doesn’t look as epic as it could be because they’re not framing it right.

However, simply by using scale and throwing a building here or a person there, you can make your photos that much more interesting.

So say for example you’re out taking photos and there’s a massive cloud formation.

You could take a wide picture of the sky and capture the whole thing.

But without anything to reference it to, for all we know, it could just be a small cloud.

But, if you just take a second and place an object into your frame intentionally, you can show off how big something is.

This is done with “scale”.

What is scale?

Scale is really just fancy for “size”.

It’s adding a reference subject into your photo so the viewer can get a sense of the subject’s size.

You can do this by pairing something big with something small.

Something I like to do is add a sliver of horizon into my photos.

Just enough so that if you look closely, you’ll see buildings, roads, and sometimes even hills in the distance.

These are big objects in real life but they look small in comparison to the massive clouds above it.

This difference in scale helps make sunsets look more immense and impressive.

So that’s one thing you can try:

Look into the distance and see what you can add to the frame to give your sunsets a sense of scale.

Use Shapes

Shapes are an extremely important part of photography.

And to be honest, it deserves its own masterclass.

But today, we’ll talk about how it pertains to sunsets specifically.

Shapes are how you frame and pick your compositions.

Unlike something like street or landscape photography, sunset photography is heavily dictated by cloud and light.

So the important thing to understand is that no sunset will ever be the same.

There are endless variables that influence your photos: time of day, altitude, pressure, time of year, etc.

It’s the reason why I can go to the same spot day after day but get different photos.

Because of this, it becomes important to understand how to work with shapes that are constantly changing real time.

There’s more to this but lets cover these three for now.

Weight

When I say weight, I’m talking about the distribution of subjects or elements in your photo.

The more things you have in a certain area of the frame, the “heavier” it is.

The less things you have in that area, the “lighter” or “less heavy” it is.

This is am important compositional framework that not many people talk about - I don’t know why, I use it every day.

To use weight effectively, think about striking a “balance” in your photography.

Pay attention to how heavy certain parts of your image are and position your shapes accordingly to keep that balance.

Or, leave things intentionally unbalanced as a way to make things look more interesting.

If you learn to play with weight, you’ll have an endless amount of compositions for your photography.

Attention

When I refer to attention, I mean “what you are making your viewer look at?”

What are they supposed to be paying attention to?

If you can ask yourself that question every time before you take a photo, your photography as a whole will get that much better.

Note that certain shapes will lead the viewer’s eyes to certain areas of the picture.

Light can also direct attention by creating lines in the sky that lead our viewer.

These lines act as literal leading lines in our photography.

By making use of these lines we can direct the viewer’s attention to where we want it to go.

As it pertains to sunset photography, clouds can come in the form of lines but also an endless amount of erroneous shapes.

So being able to play with these different variables is the skill you’ll have to build.

An easy way to practice direction attention is to use the sun itself as a center point for your viewers.

People are naturally drawn to that big glowing orb in the sky so positioning your sun in clever places can allow you to direct your audience’s attention there.

And then, use surrounding shapes, textures, clouds, and light to emphasize on that.

That’s attention.

Symmetry

When we think of symmetry, we think of pleasing proportions.

Balance.

Left and right matching sides.

But its important to note here that the real world doesn’t often have perfectly symmetrical shapes, objects, and sunsets.

So understanding symmetry in the real world means understanding asymmetry.

How can I keep the left and right side of my images balanced when the shape of the objects on both sides are different?

If you can answer that question, you’ll be able to use symmetry to improve how you use shapes and get overall better photos.

Use Color

Finally, lets talk about color.

Color is a pivotal part of sunset photography.

It’s by making use of color that we get gorgeous sunset images, but this can also lead to many problems.

Especially for beginners, when they work with color, they tend to be too forceful with it.

I used to do this a lot in my photography when photo editing.

I’d take nice photos and try and edit my way to make the photo look how I wanted it to.

This would usually result in some nasty overcooked image.

A better way to go about this is to pay attention to the colors that are already there - and then emphasize on that.

A flat color profile will give you the flexibility to push and pull colors and contrast when needed.

While matching your profiles to the existing sunset will allow for more synergy.

Remember, the last thing you want to do is ruin an image by “overdoing it”.

So instead of trying to make all your sunsets pink, stick to what the sunset actually looks like.

And then bring out the pre-existing colors if you can.

That’s how you can work with color not against it.

Lets bring this full circle.

If you want to level up your sunset photos, here are 5 ways to do it:

Keep your horizons level. It’s an easy fix that will make a world of difference.
Find a nice viewpoint. The top of a building or some hill that you can get a clear view.
Add some scale to make your sunsets stand out. Throw in a building or person into your shot.
Play with shapes to create interesting compositions. What we talked about may be a bit complicated, don’t overthink it.
Don’t fight the color, play with it. Less is more.

Do these 5 things, and you’re sunset photos will get better.

I hope this helped, if it did please share this with a friend.

Also order your copy of “The Sinking Sun” before they’re all gone.

Thanks for reading.