Sunset shots can be better than WYSIWYG

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Sunset can produce vivid colors.

Sunset is a time when the photos often don’t need brightness, contrast and hue adjustments to be made in Photoshop.

Sunset photos can be even better than “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG). Where the setting sun falls on an object set against a dark background, the results can be very contrastive.


The gold dog stands in eerie inky water.

The terracotta pot pushes back the oncoming darkness.


Canon 5D Mk II, 70-200mm, f4, 1/320 (dog), 1/1600 (pot), Colonia del Sacramento,101009
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Muddy prints

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Eagle-Eye asked for a copy of this photo, so I printed off a quick postcard (what Canon insists on calling hagaki) size copy.

"What a muddy print."

"It's not muddy, but you're right, it does look washed out."

Back into Photoshop, reduced the brightness by 50% and upped the contrast by 50%, loaded better quality photo paper, and this time we got a passable print from a rather dark computer image.

What was printed was NOT what was on the computer screen.

The printer was not my usual better quality Canon MP 800, I was using a cheaper Canon MP 170. I was also using generic paper, not Pro grade.

Get a decent printer, keep a supply of quality paper.

The colors will be more intense, the blacks will be blacker and the light will be kinder.

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