I’ve always been fascinated with sunsets and have tried on many occasions to capture them in photos. Anyone who has ever tried doing so I think will agree that it can be quite a challenge.There are a number of things working against a photographer trying to capture a sunset. First of all there is the extreme dynamic range. The sun is a lot brighter than the surroundings and the camera can only capture about 4 stops of light. The sun passing through the edge of our atmosphere greatly reduces its intensity, but it is still a lot brighter as compared to the surroundings.The other problem is lens flare (see my first image for an example of some mild lens flare). This is simply one of those problems we just have to accept when using a digital camera. The problem is that the sensor is reflective so when a bright light source hits it straight on it reflects back out the lens. And because a lens is comprised of a number of glass elements there is a pretty good possibility some of the light reflected off the sensor gets reflected back again which shows up as lens flare. Some lenses have less flare than others and sometimes you can adjust the aim a bit to reduce or possibly eliminate it. If you have a filter on the front of the lens remove it when shooting sunsets to prevent the filter from introducing even more reflections. By the way the same problem exists when shooting the moon since it is actually very bright.To combat the extreme dynamic range I have found that I need to reduce the exposure by 1 or 2 stops under what the camera thinks is right. And don’t aim directly at the sun when getting the exposure setting. Instead focus on something darker that is near it. Once you have the exposure locked then recompose and release the shutter. Review the image with the histogram to see if there is any highlight clipping.If there is a lot of clipping reduce the exposure another stop and try it again. If you run out of exposure compensation adjustment then stop the lens down more. I usually start with f/16 when shooting sunsets and go smaller as needed to prevent clipping. The trick with all of this is that as the sun gets lower in the sky it has less light so you need to remember to reverse the process as it nears the horizon.The other thing to keep in mind is to not go overboard with under exposing. It may seem like a great way to avoid clipping, but it will introduce noise in the image. You still want to get the exposure as high as you can without excessive clipping of the highlights. I always take multiple shots varying the exposure compensation so I have some alternatives should I find I was being too aggressive one way or the other. You can always set up exposure bracketing to help with this also.Keep in mind that there will be a point, as the sun nears the horizon, where you will need to reverse the process with exposure compensation and aperture. And depending on how dark it gets you might need to go into mirror lockup mode and remote trigger the shutter. Just be careful to not use too long a shutter because the sun moves rather quickly and will become a blur if you use something longer than 1/30th of a second. Be prepared as this part of the sunset goes by really fast as opposed to the point leading up to it where it feels like it is taking forever.Photographing a sunset is not easy. I respect those who do so well. A lot of it is finding a lens that has little flare and to only photograph it when the suns intensity is low. But if you realize how you can improve your chances you just might get some decent shots.

The long awaited Texas trip to visit Lori’s son, brother and sister in law was finally under way. This year I was taking my full set of camera gear with me hoping to get some good shots of the Nascar race on Sunday. As it turned out, over the course of 5 days I got a total of 2905 photos. Of course my goal was not to see how many photos I could take, but from the very beginning there were opportunities awaiting me at every turn.

For starters there was this really cute, purebred Saint Bernard puppy that was being flown to New Jersey. He was the pride of Elo Valley Saint Bernards in Pelkie, MI (http://elovalleybernards.tripod.com). I just couldn’t resist so I took out my camera and snapped some shots.

And then when we get to Derek and Jorjan’s there are a whole collection of dogs and cats just waiting to be photographed. Keith gave me instructions to get him pictures of the “boys” as soon as I got there so of course I had to once again pull out my camera and get to work.

And then Jorjan showed us her Audi convertible. It’s not everyday that I see one of those so of course once again I need to pull out my camera. Plus Jorjan said she didn’t get pictures of it yet so it was kind of an emergency.

And then there is Luke. He wakeboards or so he says. I knew the best thing to do with someone who says he does something out of the ordinary was to get them to do it in front of a camera. Then you have photographic proof that they either do or they don’t know what they are talking about. 500 photos later I came to the conclusion that Luke knows how to wakeboard.

  And just when I thought I would get some downtime and be able to put my camera back in the bag we found out there was a live band playing at the Rahr & Sons Brewery in Fort Worth. Of course I’m a sucker for a live band, but this was the first time I had a chance to photograph a Top 40 Rock band so of course… I had to bring my camera.

And then came the day of the Nascar race. Of course I knew I would take lots of photos. The toughest part was getting a clear shot of the track every time Dale Earnhardt Jr went by. You see, people in Texas seem to have a real love for Junior. Junior Nation runs pretty rampant. Every time he passes by they raise their fists and yell “JUNIOR!!!”. It took me a while to get the timing right to avoid getting rings and wrist watches in my photos.

And then there were the couple of trips we took to downtown Fort Worth. No one prepared me for all the things I could photograph down there.

I even had to follow the girls into the stores to get some inside color.

I did find a horse modeling a hat on the 2nd floor. Sometimes it pays to browse through a womens clothing stores for photo opportunities.

But of course a Fort Worth shopping trip wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Flying Saucer. Beers from all over the world.

It was a great trip and a perfect vacation. Even if it took me a number of days to finally post a fraction of the images I captured. They can be found on my website page under Texas Trip.