Armed with a new lens in hand, a Sigma 12-24mm ART Series, and the first opportunity to put it to the test, what better than a colourful sunset to give it a try.

Over the duration of about an hour, it was interesting to see the constant atmospheric changes that were taking place and how the light affected the location. It soon became obvious that there were many opportunities to capture not just one sunset shot, but many images, and all so different to each other. I call that “working the scene”.

You never know just how interesting the images will look unless you keep shooting and constantly adjusting exposure settings as the circumstances require. Starting the session with a shot in aperture priority and allowing the camera to do the rest soon proved that some human intervention was required. The old friend exposure compensation soon came into play with a -2 stop setting proving to be the best to start off with while the sun was still fairly high above the horizon. At this point, blues and gold colours were rather dominant and reflections were colourful and artistic. The light changed constantly, and the colours in the clouds intensified from orange/red to subtle pinks and mauve. By moving around the location as the incoming tide changed the foreground, watching the sky and the reflections that it created and working the scene, time quickly passed. Once the light was gone the show was over for another day as darkness descended.

The moral of my story is to keep shooting and keep looking for the best location within the area you are working in, in order to maximise the variety of images that may be possible. Don’t forget to look behind you from time to time as often there is another shot to be had as can be seen from the last image in this series.