This month, I would like to show some photographs that I have taken of sunsets (and afterwards), from the top of my local hill (part of the Adelaide hills). The top of my local hill is just above the lookout at the top end of Kensington Road. It is a spot that affords an excellent view of the sky and the western horizon – perfect for watching the sunsets and the changing colours in the sky afterwards. During sunsets and afterwards, the colours in the sky tend to change quite quickly, and there are noticeable changes as you look around the sky.

These photographs are a selection from photographs made during more than 20 special trips made to the top of the local hill (so a selection of photographs recording the sunsets on more than 20 days). I think that some of the factors affecting the different sunsets captured include the thickness, the shapes and the types of clouds that occur near the sun’s position, the amount of wind over the water, the amount of pollution, the amount of moisture in the air, etc. I think it is interesting to consider the main factors involved.

Most of the pages present a selection of photographs made during the one day’s sunset (and coloured skies afterwards). All of the photographs on each page are shown in chronological order.

(More introduction is provided below the group of small page-link images)

Detail from Photograph No. 4 (on Page 2)
Taken from above the lookout at the top of Kensington Road, 31st July 2024, 5:58 pm.

Following are small images from each page in this display.

Click on an image, or its title, to go to a page with proper reproductions and more details about the photographs on that page.

Once you are looking at the pages/images in more detail, you can use the ‘prev’ and ‘next’ links (at the top and bottom of each details page) to go to the previous or next pages in the monthly display, or return to this monthly display overview page.

More Introduction

I needed to walk up to the top of my local hill, carrying my tripod and camera gear. It took me about 20 minutes to walk up there from home, so I needed to get organised and leave home well before sunset. I usually would check how the western sky is looking well before deciding whether to go. Once I am on my way, I always find it good to get out and see the local area late in the afternoon. It always feels ‘special’ to see the dynamic real world.

Once I get to the top of my local hill, I look for a good spot to set up my tripod. There are often small numbers of other people walking or sitting about, so this may affect where I choose to set up my tripod.

Also, the place where the sun actually appears to set changes throughout the year, so this needs to be kept in mind also. During the winter months, the sun will set well north of due west. In the middle of spring, the sun will set near due west. Getting towards the end of the year, the sun will set well south of due west. The horizontal angle that the sunset will span throughout the year is about 70 degrees, which is quite vast along the horizon. This is good reason to go to the top of my local hill to photograph the sunsets (to get good clear wide views of the western sky and horizon).

I like to then set up the camera so that it uses manual focusing (set to be focused on the horizon), using an aperture of around f16 (so that there is a large depth of field in focus), and let the camera’s exposure system work out how long to open the shutter for to get enough light on the camera's sensor. This might mean that the camera uses an exposure time of around 1/500th of a second, or anything up to 30 seconds exposure time. The tripod helps to keep the image stable for the longer time exposures. I have not used any coloured filters or other special effects filters for any of these photographs.

I firstly started using a Sony A6000 mirror-less digital camera (my main camera since 2016, and one that I have been very impressed with). During spring, I purchased an upgrade to the latest Sony A6700 mirror-less digital camera. I have found that this new A6700 camera does capture the scenes better than my older A6000 - more accurate colour and tone captured throughout the whole range of tones captured. The new camera uses a different sensor chip and uses a different (much faster) processing chip. It is also a little bigger and heavier than the A6000 camera.

I process the photographs from stored RAW files, using Adobe’s professional Lightroom Classic software. This means that I have very good control over fine-tuning the actual exposure used, fine-tuning the colour balance used, fine-tuning the colour processing used, fine-tuning any sharpening used, as well as having controls over many other parameters (including lens corrections and distortions). With processing these photographs, I have tried to produce photographs that record the colours and tones that are very close to those seen and experienced.

While I am up the hill looking at the progression of the sunsets, I enjoy the whole experience up there. I can see wide views of Adelaide suburbia from up there that change in appearance as the sunlight diminishes, and the night lighting takes over (street lights, car lights, house lights and building lights come on and appear brighter as the sunlight diminishes). I can often hear beautiful bird calls coming from the suburban streets down below, from the trees behind me, or from a small number of flying birds that could be out in any direction. It is nice to see and hear couples or small groups of other people also quietly and respectfully enjoying the location and views.

There is often a lot of strong wind that gusts about up on top of the hill, which has affected some of the photographs taken, but not any of the photographs presented in this display. As the light in the western sky diminishes, it is fabulous to see the vast display of artificial lights in the dark suburbs, seen in 3-dimensions, and enjoyed in the cool evening air. There is so much happening, and it is all breathing, and shimmering. It feels like I am experiencing something special, something much more worthwhile than just being at home watching TV.

When I have finished taking photographs, and it is usually quite dark all around, I pack up my gear quietly and start my walk back down the hill to go home. Usually there is still some colour in the western sky that looks quite impressive as it is seen behind silhouetted trees moving to the side of me as I walk.

As I return home, I would often feel charged with inspiration, and ‘turned on’ to enjoying everything seen or experienced around me, as I would often feel when I had been painting or drawing outdoors. The real world is immediate and dynamic, and subtle, and extremely complex, and wonderful, and beautiful.