tca2267 Loc: Florida

HELP!!!!

I have been taking photos for a very long  time but have never ran into a problem like this:

I was at Venice pier trying to take photos of the setting sun......I was using a my Nikon D750
with a zoom lens [ up to 300mm ].........I shot some in manual....some in program.....some
in the "scene" setting .......some I used a  rotating  ND filter going from light to dark...
NONE came out.....does anyone know what is causing the "ring" around the sun........

Any suggestion / tips would be greatly appreciated.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

It can be a natural weather occurrence - hazy, humid - and/or the camera's exposure of ultra-white bright light. Quite beautiful! If you never saw before could be you were shooting sun smaller in the frame and/or different exposure. If you brightened this significantly, you wouldn't see the gradations.
Look at my photo #2 in this thread: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-551675-1.html
That's exactly how looked in the EVF (some smoke from NW summer fires).

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

My guess would be fog or haze.
--Bob

Tjohn Loc: Inverness, FL formerly Arivaca, AZ

What format? If it is a JPEG the colors in JPEG cannot match the range of colors in a raw file. Try remaking the picture as a TIFF file.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

There is a lot of haze in the air. Personally I like the effect and the image you posted. I believe the haze caused your problem. Even with a haze filter this is hard to eliminate.

torchman310 Loc: Santa Clarita, Ca.

Personally, I like this photo just the way it is.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'd say that's an example of nature/physics messing up what you were expecting.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

It is heat haze and it doesn't matter what the file format was. Both would have the same problem. Raw would allow you to try to get detail in the shadows but the sun isn't going to improve much. Reduce the size of the image and frame it in a large mat. (same as standing back) See if you think it improves...

have fun

PS Polariser works when you are edge on to the sun or looking down into sun dappled water.. again in effect edge on to the sun or with the sun behind you. Shooting at the sun the polariser has little effect until just after sunset....when once again you are seeing the light edge on because of the curvature of the earth.

have fun

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

Salt air can do that to a point. 300mm will make it more pronounced.

I do think the thing is just the fact that the highlights are all blown out (fact of life with the sun, else it would all be black). When I'm doing the sunset, I like to use the blinkies in the preview mode to show how blown out the sun is. The sky is often 1/2 or more overexposed compared to the land. The more blown out the "whites" are, the bigger the ring. You can not recover anything that is blinking. The sun will be blinking. The question becomes how much of the area around it will be as well.

My other sunset tip, wait until the sun is down. You will get more colors and don't have to deal with this problem. If you do want the sun, know everything else will be more or less a silhouette.

I didn't upload the originals, so the focus looks off. That may be contributing to your problem as well.

Just my guess.

Sun with the pier with my 300 on a D750.


Sun is down, so it is easier to expose for the overall scene