The results of Vote & Learn #4 is out now. Thank you for your participation.
Vote & Learn #4 Result
You can clearly see that Our winner is the #4th picture
#1
#2
#3
#4
So in this 4th vote and learn, we are going to discuss about Sunsets shots and that too with your mobile phones. And no editing done on any pictures above .
All the above 4 pictures are shot using my mobile phone. It is a Samsung Android phone.
I think, iPhone camera is even better than this one.
How to take that Sunset shot using your Mobile Phones?
Auto mode : This is the default mode by which we usually take a picture. The phone camera judges the lighting and adjust itself to certain settings to get a good exposure picture.
So can we use Auto mode for sunset pictures?
Of course we can use, but the result will be like the first picture. If you like to have such sunset shots, you can use Auto mode in your phone camera.
Manual mode :
Newer phone cameras gives certain manual controls so that we can have some control over the light. Check the settings of your camera and you can find some options that can be controlled.
Here we are going to control 3 such settings, namely ISO, Exposure Value and White balance. I hope you can find these names among your camera settings.
First step :
We are going to set ISO from “Auto” to “100”
ISO setting to 100
In simple terms ISO is the light sensitivity of the camera sensor. So by setting the Lowest possible setting, we are restricting the light sensitivity of the sensor. With the limited light at times like sunset, the resulting picture will be darker.
If you can find any difference between #1 and #2, it is because of the ISO changes. In #1, ISO is in AUTO; while in #2 ISO is 100.
Second Step :
Change the White balance from “Auto” to “Cloudy”
Changing the White Balance
Cameras cannot distinguish white colour under different lighting conditions like our eyes. If you take a picture under a fluorescent lighting without these corrections, the white parts in the picture may look a bit bluish. Have you noticed?
So here we change it to “Cloudy”. It gives the pictures a more orange-ish colour. So did you see the differences from #2 to #3 ?!
Third Step :
Changing the exposure value from “0” to “-2”
Changing the Exposure value
By changing the exposure value to the minimum amount, we are further controlling the light and making the picture even darker.
Now you know the difference between #1 and #4.
These simple settings can give you a more reddish, warm sunset shots, just by using your own mobile phone cameras.
Experiment with these settings. Some times reducing exposure might make it really dark, in such cases adjust the settings accordingly. In mobile phone camera we have the luxury of live view of the scene.
Sometimes a bit of retouching using some software like Picasa can make it look even better.
A DSLR has got similar options. In addition to that, you can control the shutter speed, to control the lighting further to make it even darker and more saturated with red hues.
The same evening
An evening at UAE
These pictures were taken the same evening, with my other camera. You can try similar settings in your DSLR also.
Hope you enjoyed the Sunset shots. That is all for this part of Vote n Learn.
Happy Clicking. Keep experimenting.
Let me know your feedbacks, What do you want to include in this series etc. Do share , because sharing is caring 😀
Also tell me which one did you vote and why did you vote.
I suggest you to go out and get that sunset shot and post it. Tag me so that I get to see those beauties. Thank you for trying it out 🙂
