5 tips for the most beautiful smartphone photos of the sunset
You don’t even have to go abroad: photographing a great sunset is also possible in the Netherlands. Sunbeams reaching far over the waves, pink clouds, a golden glow on your face: the sunset is by far the best time to take pictures. This is how you ensure success.
Contents
1. Think about the horizon
We say it often in photo tips articles, but there is no photo where such a straight horizon is more important than a photo in which that horizon plays the leading role. Keep it straight and put on your grid if necessary to do that even better. A crooked horizon photo is never really pretty. You don’t have to throw them away, because you can still rotate and crop them in post-processing, but the best thing is of course to do that right the first time.
Besides the fact that this is a very busy photo, the horizon is not exactly straight.
And, do you think this is right?
2. Get there early
If the sun does not set until 10 pm, as is often the case in the current period, then you should not be in the starting blocks at 5 to 10. The beauty of the sunset is actually especially the half hour before. Then that warm sphere with its rays touches everything that it can still see and that creates the beautiful pictures: the waves with a golden edge, but also, for example, the snow on a mountain. The light is truly magical in the half hour before sunset, so be sure to get ready before then.
It remains beautiful, those glimmers on the water, but the crooked horizon is less (although that is a bigger challenge on a boat of course)
Sometimes you can also wait until the sun has already set: then sometimes beautiful colors appear in the sky.
You wouldn’t be able to take this picture fifteen minutes later.
No sun to be seen, but still some light in the clouds.
3. Mind the flares
Flares occur when you want to take a picture of a light source. They often get worse if you have a dirty lens, so brush it first before you let your device look at the sun. As far as I’m concerned, flares don’t have to be completely avoided. While there are certainly examples of sunsets with way too many rays on them, there are also beautiful flares that emphasize just how powerful the sun is. But it’s very personal. By the way, the same goes for those ‘orbs’, those round shapes that sometimes arise -and are mistaken by some for ghosts-. It’s up to you whether you turn on your sixth sense or not, but sometimes it can be quite charming, such an extra circle of sunshine.
Just beautiful, isn’t it, those rays?
This is a matter of a little too much.
4. Make sure the sun is in the center
There are photos on which it is not disturbing if the sun is on the side, but then there must be a good reason for this, such as a building that is illuminated in a phenomenal way. In general, however, the sunset is most eye-catching when it is in the middle. For example, you can play with putting something in front of it: it doesn’t always come out well, but sometimes you can use it to give the sun a nice frame.
A natural frame.
In this photo, the sun is not straight, but because it is also about the beautiful lighting of the snow, it is allowed.
5. Zoom in
Making the sunset even more magical than it already is, you can do that with your smartphone. You just have to zoom in for this. Admittedly, the colors go wild because of this, but the effect can be very cool, for example in the photo below of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Especially the fact that a helicopter can be seen on it makes it extra cool, then just that burning sphere on the screen. You can also see that on the Ibiza photo of the boat. Just zoom in and you suddenly see the sunset in a completely different way. Is it all a bit excessive in terms of colors? Yes, it can become a Miss Saigon poster, but it also has something.
This is zoomed out, but can you see the helicopter yet?
You can see that the colors are very different when you zoom in considerably.
Do you have any good photography tips to share, for example of the sunset? Leave it now in the comments.
More photography tips
Do you want to read more about photography? Especially with the upcoming holiday you will want to take a nice picture from the plane, from the beach, pictures of food or flowers. Do you prefer a selfie or a photo of movement? That is also possible.
And, fun to listen: our podcast about smartphone photography!
