I love a good sunset. It seems to bring a moment of claim to the end of the day regardless of how the day has gone. The setting sun signify a sense of end to day light hours. It produces a warm tone to the end of the day and a moment of reflection for what we've witnessed in today's environment. For photographers it's a chance to capture images bathed in warm light. The setting sun itself, the warm tones reflected off subjects, builds and objects around us. Yet capturing this sense of claim and bold orange and yellow colours can be tricky.
I set up on the beach waiting for that 'perfect' moment. It almost came.
The Old Neptune - Sunset seemed very unlikely with this dramatic cloud cover. 1/500 sec at f2.8, ISO 32, 9 mm, iPhone 14 Pro
I've seen some lovely sun sets of the coast at Whitstable. One of my favourite places to go, for a variety of reasons. And on my todo list is to capture not only the setting sun over the Whitstable coast but behind a very popular drinking establishment, The Old Neptune. This pub has been sitting on the Whitstable coast since around 1880, all be it reconstructed several times due to coastal storms - one in 1953 which took a good chunk of the building out. It's such an iconic building in Whitstable, you'll be mad not to pay it a visit.
Many photographers before me have successfully capture said sunset behind the pub. But I've yet to capture that - well, capture it the way I wanted it. Armed with my trusty tripod, iPhone, DSLR and my Big Stopper (Lee Filters 10 stop ND filter) (iPhones do struggle with low light photography, but have recently got much better ion this area) I set up on the beach waiting for that 'perfect' moment. It almost came. It needs to have cloud, some structural interest in the sky. Weather changed quickly and cleared the clouds to reveal a lovely sunset with a golden glow, but no clouds to enhance the colours further. The image below just doesn't make the grade. It's good, but not great.
30 sec at f/11, ISO 100, 18 mm, Nikon D7000
But on the bright side (pun intended), I have witnessed some lovely sunsets at Whitstable, and over the course of time I've been able to capture them in all its glory. So for now, that will have to do. And the sunset behind the Old Neptune - that's still one my todo list.
1/340 sec at f/2.2, ISO 32, iPhone 6
1/640 sec at f/1.8, ISO 80, Panoramic mode, iPhone 7
1/4000 sec at f/2.2, ISO 40, iPhone 14 Pro
1/400 sec at f/8, ISO 100, 18 mm, Nikon D7000
1/3200 sec at f/8, ISO 400, 105 mm, Nikon D7000