Video in sunset

[Moura]

Hi, not considering the use of graduated filters on MP2, how do you avoid the very bright skies and dark ground when recording a video at sunset or golden hour? I have dificult in that part, often i get overexposure skies... Thanks

 

[John235]

Hi, not considering the use of graduated filters on MP2, how do you avoid the very bright skies and dark ground when recording a video at sunset or golden hour? I have dificult in that part, often i get overexposure skies... Thanks

I will aim at a light area on the ground, or below the horizon, set the exposure and then lock it. Turn back to the sunset. It sometimes takes several attempts to find the right balance between sky and ground. Disclaimer: I am a tank amateur, not a pro by any means. I just found this sometimes works.

 

[Moura]

I will aim at a light area on the ground, or below the horizon, set the exposure and then lock it. Turn back to the sunset. It sometimes takes several attempts to find the right balance between sky and ground. Disclaimer: I am a tank amateur, not a pro by any means. I just found this sometimes works.

I do some like that, but i do not know if there is a better method. Thanks

 

[Cymruflyer]

There is no way any camera can replicate the dynamic range your eye has for light and dark. There is no way in video mode to shoot a sunset and have the sky show up with those rich sunset colours and have the ground show up the details. There is simply too much contrast between light and dark. Therefore you must find a happy median that will do it for you and your taste, which means the sky will be a little lighter than you want and the ground will be a little darker than you want.

If shooting a still image then all you do it bracket the shots by about 5 and then blend them together in an editing programme of your choice. However, for video, your only option will be to use a graduated filter to get the best of both light and dark areas of this type of shot. It's all a compromise without using filters.

 

[Camino Ken]

I have this same problem and am a photography kindergartener. I thought with my camera set to auto everything the exposure should change while shooting the video to optimize for both light and dark areas. What am I getting wrong?

 

[John235]

I have this same problem and am a photography kindergartener. I thought with my camera set to auto everything the exposure should change while shooting the video to optimize for both light and dark areas. What am I getting wrong?

I do the same thing. For me, the issue trying to get a sunset video is that the auto setting sets exposure for the average frame brightness. Shooting toward a setting sun causes the camera to darken down to that average. The foreground trees then go completely black and ground detail is lost. Locking exposure to a spot darker than the sky can bring back some of that ground detail. The trade-off is a bit of over exposure of the sky. Without a filter, you have to play around to find a good balance in brightness between sky and ground. Sometimes the sunset is over by the time I get it right.

 

[Cymruflyer]

There is no "Right" when using auto exposure, in fact there is no "Right" at all when shooting a sunset. There is no way any camera, let alone a low cost one inch sensor Kind of Hasselblad type camera, can handle the vast range of contrast/light and dark that a sunset and ground has. There is no auto setting that will give the perfect blend in such a situation and I have been a still photographer with thousands of dollars worth of pro DSLR cameras.

The only was to get a still shot is as I noted, use 3 but better 5 bracketed exposures then blend them together in post, for best results. In video you will need a graduated ND filter. Relying on Auto just means the sensor will work with what it is being shown and if it is mostly light in the frame it will darken the sky and the ground will be almost black and if it is a majority of ground in the frame then it will lighten that up to a correct exposure and then the sky will be blown out.

As stated, there is always a compromise in photography when trying to shoot or video such a scene and on auto nothing will be perfect.

 

[Moura]

I am a photographer too, and for photography i use Gnd filters and bracketing. But for video the grad is dificult to use because camera is moving. I open this topic because i am a beginner in video. So i understand that the best option is expose to the brightest area, correct? Because is better have dark ground instead of overexposed skies...

 

[Cymruflyer]

I am a photographer too, and for photography i use Gnd filters and bracketing. But for video the grad is dificult to use because camera is moving. I open this topic because i am a beginner in video. So i understand that the best option is expose to the brightest area, correct? Because is better have dark ground instead of overexposed skies...

Just ask yourself what are you videoing and you have your answer, it's that simple. You stated the sunset already, so you now know what to expose for! If you want to video a sunset, then you need to expose for a sunset, though if you can allow a little less saturation of colour in the sky, you may get away with a bit of the ground being somewhat brought back from the dark. If you wished to video the ground during a sunset, then you would of course, expose for the ground and have a washed out sky.

When filming a sunset, if you think about it, you set the camera to a particular position relative to the ground and horizon in the frame and then you fly forward, back or sideways, as you film. You generally are not changing the framing of the shot (moving the camera position up and down), therefore, you could use a Graduated ND filter and get close to getting both the ground and the sky close to a good exposure for each.

 

[Moura]

Just ask yourself what are you videoing and you have your answer, it's that simple. You stated the sunset already, so you now know what to expose for! If you want to video a sunset, then you need to expose for a sunset, though if you can allow a little less saturation of colour in the sky, you may get away with a bit of the ground being somewhat brought back from the dark. If you wished to video the ground during a sunset, then you would of course, expose for the ground and have a washed out sky.

When filming a sunset, if you think about it, you set the camera to a particular position relative to the ground and horizon in the frame and then you fly forward, back or sideways, as you film. You generally are not changing the framing of the shot (moving the camera position up and down), therefore, you could use a Graduated ND filter and get close to getting both the ground and the sky close to a good exposure for each.

Thanks for the explanation, all depends what we want in the frame.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Thanks for the explanation, all depends what we want in the frame.

Correct, if you choose more land it will lighten that up under auto and the sky will be burned out. If you have more sky, it will darken that down nicely for a beautiful sunset colour but your ground will be black. Even if you divide it half and half in the frame, it will likely give you black ground and a good sunset sky.