Great Ball of Fire!!
When I left the office tonight (Sept. 1) at Britton and Broadway Extension a little after 7:00, I noticed the sun was a big red ball in the sky. Knowing the conditions for this type of sunset are rare I kept an eye on it while looking for something to put in front of it during the drive home. As it fell lower and lower, it opened up a lot of opportunities. As I headed west on 33rd toward Coltrane I spotted the tall grass I put in the foreground, which luckily was right by a turn-off in the road. I whipped the car in and jumped out to get my Canon 40D and 300mm f2.8 lens and plopped on the ground and started shooting. For situations like this, I like to shoot in the jpeg + raw mode which allows quick editing for the newspaper deadlines, but also gives me more detail if I need it. The great thing about these type of sunsets is the exposure is so close to the ambient light, thereby maintaining detail in the sun. I varied the size the sun appeared by using different f-stops. The larger the aperture, the larger the sun. This frame was shot at iso 200 1/1600 at f2.8 to give the sun its maximum size. I think it was worth pulling over for and I hope you do to.
Tall grass is silhouetted against the setting sun along 33rd street in Edmond near Coltrane Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman.
-Doug Hoke
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I never knew that about the larger aperture = larger sun. Good tip; nice photo!