Questions about photography?

By Rex Dolby

The Van Wert Area Photography Club is again inviting anyone in the community having questions about a new camera, using the camera on your smart phone, or questions about photography in general, to bring them to the club’s meeting this Thursday, January 12, 7 p.m. at 114 S. Race St.  Feel free to ask any question on these topics and there will be experienced photographers on hand to answer them or try to find an answer for you on the net.  This question and answer session is offered as a service to the community, so there will be no cost or obligation to those who participate.

One of the questions that may come up is, “How can I get a good sunrise or sunset picture?”  In no particular order, you have to consider location, timing, sky, and the foreground. Sometimes you’ll be out and about and come across an interesting scene. Ask yourself, “Would this be more impressive in a different season, time of day, or location?”  They are all tied together so you make a combined judgement based on what you want the outcome of the photo to be. If you’re facing east, it will be a morning shot or west, an evening shot.

A different location doesn’t mean go elsewhere, but rather to scout the area around where you plan to shoot to discover how you might include more interesting things in the foreground or open up the view to more sky.

Check the weather forecast.  A storm approaching or just passed may provide some dramatic cloud formations.  In such conditions the sky is more interesting and therefore 2/3 of your composition should be sky.  If a structure or growth is of more interest, then 2/3 of the composition should be the ground.

As for timing, particularly for a sunset, as the sun approaches the horizon, its illumination of the clouds increases.  Therefore don’t be too quick to pack up after the sun sets.  Many times the lower angle of the sun’s rays will produce an exceptional light show on the clouds.  However, once the sun has slipped behind a cloudbank the show is pretty much over, unless there’s a slit where it might reappear.

A graduated neutral density filter may come in handy to tone down the sky without changing the ground exposure if there is a great amount of difference between the brightness of the sky and the ground.