Picture this – you’re sitting on Waikiki beach, in front of a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime sunset. Luckily, with these three simple tips, you can make sure that your moment really stands out:

Play with exposure levels
Change your exposure settings to “underexpose” in order to capture the color spectrum and still have room to play with lighting if you choose to edit. How to do this?
On an iPhone Tap and then on the right side of the box that comes up move the little sun down to take away some light for strong colors.
DSLR cameras underexpose by using exposure compensation. Minus or take away light until you get the colors you like.

Change your white balance
When DSLR cameras use their auto white balance setting, they are changing and filtering the light so that it resembles what is closest to what our eye sees. By switching  your white balance to Cloudy or Shade you’ll be adding warmth or yellow to you Sunset. If you set your white balance to Fluorescent lighting it’ll add magenta or purple to your scene. Sometimes looks good other times not so much. 🙂 For iPhones you can do this after you take the photo in the Edit mode.

Story
This is the most fun part to play with, and what makes each photo special to you! While you are taking a picture of the sunset – what else is going on? Is there a surfer you can put in the foreground? Use your surroundings to create a story or mood that creates a scene within the picture. Silhouettes of palm trees, people, or reflections in tide pools are all great starting points.

There are plenty more tips that could be shared to maximize the beauty of a sunset – especially here in the Hawaiian Islands – but luckily there is no shortage of sunsets to practice with! If you’ve used our tips and would like to share your photographs with us – tag us on Instagram to be featured: @bluehawaiiphototours Or come join other sunset lovers on a Sunset Photo Tour. Small groups led by photographer. Sunset Tours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. www.bluehawaiiphototours.com

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