The Best Light For Shooting Photo's: Sunrise vs. Sunset

Honestly, I've always been a basic as heck human being who snapped all of the sunsets on my phone, but once I picked up a camera and starting expanding my work, I found out in trial and error how light actually works.

I'm still learning how to shoot in different scenarios and lighting options, and how to position your light source to get the best ambience. Learning these for yourself only take shooting in different lighting conditions, times of day, and messing around with your camera.

Time of day is incredibly important, avoid shooting around midday as the sun is highest and can often wash out the landscape around you and wreak havoc on your subject.

The best time's to shoot are around the rising and setting of the sun, so I'm here to weigh the pro's and con's of the age old question: Sunrise or Sunset...

Sunrise Photography

I was never one for waking up early and taking a slog through the dark to reach a location for sunrise, but recently I found passion for early wakeups and beautiful images.

Not only do your photo's turn out well, but embracing the culture of it, of car camping the night before, making tea or cocoa to put in a thermos for the summit or location, the pure euphoria at the spectacular colors and lightshow of the sunrise.

Figuring out a location's time for first light, sunrise, and lighting after sunrise is crucial to getting that shot. 

Sunrise

Sunrise itself is amazing for backlit photos and silhouettes of mountains, playing with subjects in front of multi-colored lights. The excitement you get when the sun first starts peaking up above the eastern horizon, settling in a wide band of color that begins to drip into the mountains, that is addicting to me.

Depending on the kind of photo you are aiming for, you need to mess around with your camera's settings to figure out what works best for the composition you are creating. I like to use a moderate aperture and shutter speed, and an ISO around 400. I enjoy the more orange glow of my outdoor photos so most of the time my white balance is skewed towards cloudy day settings.

For instance the photo below was shot, 1/250 shutter speed, at f-10, with an ISO of 400.

After Sunrise

Moments after sunrise are great for snagging photos of mountains, or images where more of a subject is lit.

The different colors of light during moments after the sunrise can add texture and lighted layers to your scenery. This is perfect for mountains and portraits on big landscapes.

Sunset Photography

Sunset's are a bit different than sunrises in the fact that you're coming down in the dark, not going up. I do enjoy a good sunset, but don't enjoy hiking down a mountain when it's hard to see, getting back to my car tired, and having to decide whether to drive home exhausted or not. It's a toss up either way, as the sunset will probably be worth it.

Before Sunset

Golden hour is one of the best times to shoot photo's, hands down. The lighting is perfectly even, and a color and texture that kick starts my heart into pumping adrenaline through my system.

Portraits and mountain scenes are perfect for this lighting, giving you a great composition that can capture distance and color in intriguing ways. Some of my favorite portraits were shot on clear or semi-cloudy days before the sun began to dip below the horizon.

This is an image I shot recently after I had purchased my DSLR. It's an older composition, and has no edits to it. This was when I first began to figure out how lighting could change how a photo looked (also before I fully figured out what camera settings were).

Sunset

Similar to shooting in sunrise, dramatic photos of the landscape itself, as well as of backlit subjects are stunning. You can get a wider variety of colors when there are bands of clouds above the horizon, but not quite covering the sunset.

Timing is critical for sunsets, as they often don't last very long, and clouds can spoil your shots if they are too thick. Honestly, it's all dependent on Mother Nature, she can be difficult to predict.

When shooting sunsets, I enjoy adding more of a perspective to the shot so as not to get lost in the clutter of cellphone photos. Adding a subject to the image, or positioning a certain piece of the landscape can create a better composition and draw the viewer's eye to your photo.

The Verdict

In the end, I think that I choose a good sunrise over sunset. My decision may be swayed by the number of sunrise hikes, and the amazing experiences, and content, I have had on these early mornings, but I lean towards crisp mornings watching the day start.

When I think of sunrises I think of car camping the night before, cups of cocoa on the summit, silky fog rolling down the mountainsides, landscape shots with the backlit silhouette of your subject striding purposefully into the distance.

Sunsets have many opportunities, but sunrise is the start of a new day in a creative and inspiring way, leading to more epic landscapes and portraits, day hikes, and post-trek breakfasts at diners and in the back of your car.

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