Outdoor Photography: Shooting at Sunset, Sunrise, and Night

Go on-location with photographer and adventurer Chris Burkard (chrisburkard) as he explores the wilderness and discovers great photos along the way. Chris shows how the best shots occur when you’re aren’t looking for them, while also providing the know-how and tips to make sure you’re ready to capture the moment when it arises. Lessons include working with lighting at different times of day, shooting long exposures, and incorporating subjects into a landscape shot. Perfect for pros and enthusiasts alike, this class will help you take your shots to the next level.

What You’ll Learn

• Introduction. Explore Joshua Tree National Park with Chris Burkard as he reveals his passion for “quick, dirty” photography. Chris’s best landscape photography tips revolve around teaching you to be a flexible photographer who can adapt to your natural surroundings.
• Shooting into the sun. To learn a new skill, you have to be willing to make mistakes. In this lesson, Chris will emphasize the importance of mistake-making by encouraging you to photograph during sunrise, sunset, and nighttime using all the wrong techniques.
• Finding your inspiration. For Chris, a passion for art combined with a love for the outdoors inspired him to try outdoor photography, a medium that lets him become “part of the action” when it comes to exploring nature’s beauty. Listen closely, as he speaks on his inspirations, from architecture to the processes of other photographers.
• Equipment. As Chris takes you on a tour of his photography equipment, you’ll learn the best times to use a Sony A7 vs. a Sony A6000 and become well versed in the filters to use in landscape photography. If you’re not yet ready to invest in a new camera, this lesson will also demonstrate how to make the best of your iPhone camera.
• Sunset. You can never plan for epic moments. Here, you’ll learn how to come prepared to shoot epic sunsets in five-minute windows.
• Night. Long exposures are great for capturing stars in the night sky. You’ll see what a 45-minute exposure can look like and learn what to avoid when leaving your camera running (spoiler: You get to explore the different forms of intrusive light).
• Sunrise. Capturing sunrises doesn’t have to mean just taking pictures of the sun rising. Chris will show you how to use subjects and objects to turn a simple sunrise photo into a narrative.
• Sunset II. You’ll witness the importance of surveying an area before choosing where to take your best shots and how to best capture humans in nature from afar. Chris will explain the advantages of coming to a location with one idea in mind and leaving with something entirely different.
• Night II. Now that it’s getting dark, you’ll explore ISO photography and learn about specialty lenses for low light. You’ll also discover the best fake and natural light sources to use during long exposure nighttime shots. So, as Chris instructs, “Set up the camera, let it run, and go to bed.”
• Sunrise II. Chris will show you how high vantage points can help reveal depth and scale in sunrise photos. You’ll see how a Graduated Neutral Density Filter and a polarizer can improve early morning shots.
• Editing daytime photographs. You’ll learn basic photo editing tools through watching Chris play with saturation, vibrance, shadows, and highlights.
• Editing nighttime photographs. You’ll learn how to make sure nighttime photographs stay true to real life scenes. Chris will teach you how to do this by honing in on a single object from your photograph.
• Final thoughts. Parting tips from this lesson include focusing on framing, using clean color palettes, and coming up with a consistent editing style.