JOEharbor wrote:
TAKING SUN SET AND SUN RISE PIC BEEST SETTING AND FILTERS
What would you suggest. Joe
Generally speaking, it's best to use NO filters when directly shooting sunsets and sunrises.
Adding layers of glass will increase various flare issues. How much depends upon the quality of the filter and, it seems, luck.
Below is an image where I deliberately used a circular polarizer, which is one of the worst to use because it has multiple layers of glass. I know it's hard to see some of the flare artifacts in Internet resolutions and sizes, so there are a couple details from the image where I'm pointing them out. There also was overall veiling flare, reducing contrast and color saturation. There filter seemed to amplify chromatic aberration, too. The image naturally tended to underexpose, too.
Notice that the sun is just barely within the image. It could have been worse. It's also a very high quality, multi-coated B+W C-Pol... many other filters would have done worse.
I was able to "fix" many of the above issues in Photoshop:
It would have been a whole lot easier to simply not use a filter (bare lens only) and increase my exposure a little, as I did for the following which is almost straight out of camera, had very little post-processing at all:
Also, a C-Pol would have removed some of the reflections from the wet sand and rocks in the above image, which in my opinion are important aspects of the image.
But, don't take my word for it. Experiment. If you have time, maybe take the shot both with and without any filters you might want to try. The only filters I carry and use for digital are C-Pol and some neutral density (NOT graduated ND... I can do better than the filters ever could, using some post-processing techniques). Neither of those serve much purpose for shooting sunsets or sunrises. A circular polarizer's polarizing effect is strongest at 90 degrees from the light source.... pointed directly at the sun is 0 degrees, where there's virtually no effect. Maybe an ND filter, though that would mostly just be to be able to use shutter speeds or apertures that would otherwise be impossible. Whatever filter you try, it MUST BE very high quality glass and multi-coated! Cheap uncoated filters are best used as skeet targets or under your ice tea to protect your wood coffee table.
EDIT: Full disclosure. Actually, I do carry a third type of filter... UV. I have those available for protection when I'm shooting in situations where the lens is at risk, such as at the seashore or in blowing sand. But I only install those when I must, most of the time they aren't on my lenses. And I wouldn't use one for a sunset or sunrise, because it wouldn't enhance the image at all, much more likely would just be problematic.