Give Your Sunsets a Great Foreground

It's easy to look at a pretty sunset or sunrise and think that nature will do all of the work for you when it comes to photographing it. With all that color and drama, what's not to like? But you can improve any sunset/sunrise by simply finding a good foreground to place in front of it. Because you want the colors and cloud patterns (or sky reflections, if you're near the water) to dominate the shot, you want your foreground subject to be simple, yet interesting. Also, because it's likely that your foreground will end up entirely in silhouette, you also want a subject that's bold enough to be reduced to lines and shapes and still add interest to the photograph.

I took this shot of the rigging in a commercial fishing boat in Galilee, Rhode Island and I really like the way the complex web of stays and ropes creates such interesting patterns. It took me a while to find the shot though--even though I had been scouting around the harbor an hour or so before sunset. I was really hoping to get a shot of a boat pulling into or out of the harbor, but all the boats were tied up for the night. After walking around the marina in a slight state of panic for what seemed like an eternity (it was probably only about 10 minutes), afraid that I might miss this great sunset and not get a good shot, I looked up into the rigging of this boat and knew it would make a great shot. I planted my tripod on the dock and fired off a few dozen shots as the sky grew more intense and then started to fade, shifting my position slightly after each few frames.

Scouting ahead of time is the real key to finding a good sunset foreground. I've always found it's better to sacrifice an hour of late-afternoon shooting to do more scouting if I think there's going to be a great sunset, because I know that the combination of an interesting foreground and a great sunset make really pretty photos. Better yet, scout earlier in the day, at midday perhaps, and just be sure you get back to your sunset location in time to catch the sky show.

Spotlight Subjects with Front Lighting

There's a funny shift in the value (or lack thereof) of front lighting in still photos that's taken place during the years that I've been writing photo books. When I first started writing about photography the general rule was "keep the sun over your shoulder," which meant in essence, always use front lighting. Then as consumers became more hip to the value of different lighting directions in "creative" photography, front lighting somehow got shoved to the back of the lighting bus.

Early on, I was as guilty as anyone in describing light that fell on the front of a scene as mostly a utilitarian lighting direction for getting a good exposure and keeping pesky shadows at bay (hidden behind subjects). Today though, partly because our audience has grown more sophisticated, most photo teachers and writers acknowledge that any light is good light if it works with the subject you're shooting. In fact, since many digital cameras produce somewhat flat and unsaturated colors, the use of front lighting is actually a great way to put some snap into ordinary outdoor scenes.

And let's face it, sometimes you're stuck with the light that you're stuck with and unless you want to linger your vacation away waiting for the earth to spin a bit more, you play the cards your dealt. In the case of this antique-sign display in Greenville, Maine, front lighting (also slightly from above) was not only the only option (unless I wanted to wait a few hours for the signs to fall into shade) but the spotlighting effect really ignited the colors and added a nice crisp sharpness to the scene. While I normally saturate most digital images at least a tiny bit (especially for the web), this shot is exactly as it came out of my Nikon D70.

So if your dad always told you to keep the sun over your shoulder, he was actually giving you pretty good advice. Unless, of course, backlighting or sidelighting works better for a particular shot!