The most attractive part of photo contests is sunset or sunrise photography. what wonder nature creates in the sky is visible in the sunsetting hours of the day or during the break of dawn. Photo contests opened our eyes to the most beautiful and blissful moments of the early and last hours of the day.
Here are a few pieces of advice to create dazzling sunset and nature photography pictures and win the photography contest.
Find the perfect place
Although sunrise and sunset are practically easy to shoot, I advice to scope out places that might be very good to see the sun track all the way down or see it breaking the dawn. In photo contests with themes related to sunset or sunrise, one must find out when the sun will set or rise. Get your things all packed up and be there where you plan to take the shot at least half an hour ahead.
Keep an eye on the weather
If you’re planning to join photo contests, you should know that there are a variety sunsets and sunrise that produce an array of different types of lights and patterns in the sky. You may not notice but taking photographs while there are clouds around make the scene more magnificent. Don’t just go for clear days for these shots – while they can produce some wonderful colors. Also be aware of days when there is dust or smoke in the air as they can produce amazing results also.
Place the horizon off-center
The picture will be more interesting if the horizon is not in the center of the picture. In order to win photography contests, you can include a lot of the colorful sky and place the horizon in the lower third of the frame. Remember the rule of thirds in your photographing of sunrises and sunsets. While you can always break the rule it’s often a good idea to place elements like the horizon, sun, silhouettes etc off centre. In picture contest, some of the most interesting entries are off centered.
Use night flash
Night flash combines a slow shutter speed to capture the background scene with flash that illuminates a nearby subject. It is especially good to create a sunset and nature photography composition picture of a person with the sunset or city lights in the background.
Include a silhouette
In picture contests, sunset and nature photography compositions are even better when you include a foreground object such as a tree or a person silhouetted against the colorful sky in the background. Use the ‘no flash” option on your camera, or it won’t be a silhouette.
Keep your lens clean
Dust particles, fingerprints, or other foreign matter can cause considerable lens flare when you include the sun in your pictures.
Tripod
If you are planning to take photos at longer shutter speeds and with longer focal lengths, then you have to use a tripod to ensure your camera to be totally fixed.
Manual Focus
Consider switching to manual focus when shooting in extreme lighting conditions. In photo competitions, lighting condition is very essential, switching to manual focus mode is advised to ensure you get nice crisp shots.
The interesting thing about sunsets and sunrise is that they contribute an enormous amount of creativity for photo competitions. Not only they create wonderful colors in the sky in front of you but they also can cast a beautiful golden light that is wonderful for other types of photography.
To see how John Warton, senior photo editor at Photo Laureates reviews photographs and meet, go to www.thephotochallenge.com
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