…. wait for it……

Sunsets are great, and many times when the weather is right, we are blessed with all sorts of colors.  I always  used to grab my camera, and try to capture those colors when they looked their absolute best.  And as soon as they started fading, I would start packing up my camera and my tripod.  Done for the evening, back inside.  I have found as I started playing around more with long exposures after dark, that the camera will still see some amazing colors, AFTER the sun goes down.

“The Witness Tree” is a photo of a tree on the Gettysburg battlefield. This shot was taken with Panasonic Lumix micro 4/3 camera mounted on a tripod. I used a remote shutter release cable to avoid excess camera movement. It was taken as the very last light of day was fading away, after we had watched a beautiful sunset. Just a little light remained in the sky. Using a 50 second exposure, the camera collected the light that was left, and found more color. Dark blues in the night sky, spotted with some of the first stars of the evening. And reds along the horizon, still showing up as the sun dipped below the line of site. Enough light was there to silhouette the grizzled old tree, and a couple of the battlefield monuments.

So grab shots of the next amazing sunset you see. But, make sure that you keep watching, and after the light you can see fades, let your camera show you what is left. Try the long exposures, even a minute or more. Experiment a little, and you will find there are still some more colors to be found.