Taking pictures of the sunset over the ocean

SusanKB

Hi Moose,
I am going on a cruise in a few days and would like to know how best to achieve that beautiful sunset/rise over the ocean from a cruise ship. Are there certain filters to use? What type of setting on my camera should I use? I am so very new to all of this, and I am very excited to learn it all.

Susan

Moose

Hey @SusanKB - I would definitely get yourself a circular polarizer. This will give you a deeper blue sky with more cloud detail and a bright blue ocean beneath it. For open water sunset/sunrise shots from the deck of a large boat, I would do the following...

1. Enable Aperture Priority (A on mode dial) & set the Aperture to f/8
2. Set the ISO to 100
3. Set the Metering to Matrix
4. On the lens, turn VR OFF & switch A/M to A
5. Set the AF-Area Mode to Auto-Area AF
6. Set the Focus Mode to AF-S
7. Set the Release Mode to Self-timer
8. Aim the camera upwards towards the sky so that it fills the frame and half-press the shutter button to lock focus and exposure.
9. Continuing to half-press the shutter, recompose to include some ocean, then shoot.

All the best and have a wonderful trip! :)