February Sunset in Norway

[Amber_Anderson]

Here in western Norway, we have a reasonably mild climate - similar to Portland or Seattle. While it does snow, it usually does not last very long, and Bergen has a reputation as the rainiest city in Europe. This means that typically it looks very, very green for most of the year.

This scene is unusual for the area to actually capture leafless trees and brown grass. This photo was taken at 17.00 in mid-February, so while we do get some quite short days of about six hours of daylight in late December, here in the southern part of Scandinavia by mid-February we are already back to 9+ hour days, and by the first of March it is 10.5 hours… each day is noticeably longer than the previous.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

This was a chilly but not freezing winter afternoon. The sunset was beautiful over the fjord, but also difficult to capture perfectly through the trees and clouds.

Technical Details

Sony a7iii - Sigma 14mm Art Lens
ISO 100
f /1.8
1/2000 second
Some light processing in LR - mostly dehaze for the landscape in the distance.

[Jens_Ober]

Hi Amber,
this is a beautiful scene with some dramatic weather conditions in the background. The beautifully lit clouds add interest to the sky. These are the conditions we all wish for when we take off for a sunset.

In my opinion, it is a little bit too obvious that you darkened the sky in post-processing. The background behind the bare tree tops looks significantly brighter than in the area above:

Probably you applied the adjustments with the brush tool in LR. It is not easy to use that tool for this kind of image where you don’t have a simple straight horizon. The problem with your picture is the trees reaching into the sky. You might want to experiment with the Luminance Range tool in LR:

In case you are not familiar with the tool, here is a video in which it is explained: https://youtu.be/y2jnWdNOqGs