gloryg Loc: New York

Hello,

I am going to be taking some sunset photos with my Canon Powsershot X530 HS.

What would be the best setting to use?

Thank you

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

The camera is live view and what you see is what you get. Put it in manual, and adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO to get something pleasing on the screen. Start by keeping ISO low since you have no need for setting it to a high level for a sunset. And stop down a bit. Then adjust aperture for what you want. And give it a try. If too dark, or too light, play with aperture setting. No need for canned settings with this kind of camera. You should be able to nail it.

And have fun.

gloryg Loc: New York

Thank you

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Hi Glory. I am inferring from your question that you have been shooting in auto mode and may be unfamiliar with the properties of ISO, aperture and shutter speed - let alone the term "stop down"

If I am correct, then my advice is to take the time to properly learn exposure and the interactions of the 3 elements mentioned. You can randomly turn dials until you see a pleasing result on the screen, but one issue you may run into that Jim didn't address is blur from too slow a shutter speed when hand-holding.

And not to pile on criticism of Jim's advice, but the sx530 has a lot of "natural" depth of field (controlled by aperture) and not many aperture settings choices with which to maneuver your way to an exposure you're happy with.

Are you still in the camera club you've mentioned in earlier topics? If yes, is there someone who can help you learn the basics? If not, try this book: Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure." Once you have a strong foundation, you will be much better prepared for many types of lighting conditions and subjects.

All the best!

gloryg Loc: New York

Thank you Linda

Yes I still am in a camera club.

The main problem is most of the time I usually am out for the day with my husband on the weekends.

I do have alot of time to work on setting with the samera.

So I usually have to go with auto mode.

I am currently running two events over the summer for my club.

One of them is for the Manhattanhenge sunset event next week.

So I want to try and get it right.

I am taking a night photography course online.

I hope I will learn something from it.

I will also look into the book you recomended.

Thank you

gloryg

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

As has already been discussed by other members handling the camera in the manual mode will give you full control. I am not familiar with your camera but I am sure it has center weighted metering or partial metering.
For the exposure aim the camera to the sky AWAY from the sun and use the meter reading as your basic exposure. If you have a tripod I would use it.
Learning basic photography, even with a simple camera such as yours, the results should be very satisfactory.

RWCRNC Loc: Pennsylvania

gloryg Loc: New York

I am taking the time to learn which settings I should use.

Thank you for your response.

df61743 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

Might I suggest you simply experiment, before your event. Sunset lasts a relatively long time, plenty of time to take dozens of shots at different settings. You might put it in P mode so you can experiment with different ISO and exposure compensations. Later, you can look at your photos and decide which one(s) you like best. The settings will be preserved in the EXIF info.

Dick

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

For a simple, no brainer result, that my granddaughter stumbled upon with my SX-530HS: Shoot everything AUTO and set the exposure correction to -2. Her shots were as good as my "correctly taken" images!

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

As a fall back, or backup "just in case on-site," I think your camera has a sunset setting in the Scene mode?

gloryg Loc: New York

Thank you

I did call Canon.

They could not locate a Sunset setting on the camera.