Create A Sunset From Scratch

How to give a cold photo a warm glow and a sunset effect

- George Cairns

If you’ve been keeping up with recent issues, you’ll know that Affinity Photo is a digital darkroom that’s packed with tools to help you fix common problems with colour, tone and composition. The software can help you overcome the results of incorrect camera settings to make a subject look as good in print as it did to the naked eye.

Affinity Photo is also packed with tools that can produce more creative-looking results, such as adding a sunset to an image captured much earlier in the day.

A sunset (or sunrise) will enhance any landscape with a romantic golden glow and vibrant colours, but it takes skill and effort (and a bit of luck with weather conditions) to capture one effectively. If you meter the camera to ensure you capture the brightest sky details, you’ll end up plunging the backlit landscape into silhouette.

By shooting your subject at a time of when there’s less contrast, you can capture more detail in a scene and then decide how much of the landscape you want to retain during the post-production process.