How Pixel Improves Sunset & Low-Light Photography

Take even better sunset photos.

It can be tricky to take a sunset photo that’s as good as the real thing. Learn how Pixel phones can help you capture stunning images of the evening sky.

Made by Nicholas Wilson on Pixel 5a

The best shots of the sunset often happen after everyone else has packed up their equipment and begun walking away.

In a moment, photographer Paul Reiffer looks over his shoulder, notices bright pink hues streaking across the sky, and knows he’s found his money shot. “When you’re done clicking,” he says, “you just turn around and have a look. You might find something even better behind you.”

Capturing the setting sun is challenging for even the best photographers: The light and the colours are in constant flux. The contrast of the bright sun against the dimming sky creates an environment ripe for overexposure, which can make everything around the sun too dark to make out. The “white balance,” the way your camera interprets the colour white in your photos, is completely out of whack.

“The worst-case scenario for any camera is huge contrast,” says Reiffer, a UK-based landscape photographer. “If you’re shooting that bright ball of flaming gas, that’s exactly what you’ve got.” Because most cameras are designed to make the colour white look neutral, this warmer light can wash out other colours at sunset, wiping out valuable details.

What the pros look for in great sunsets

The physics of light are everything when it comes to the sunset. As the light changes, it bounces off of objects – even particles in the air.

To get the best shots, aim for what the pros call “golden hour” – that 30-minute window just before or after the sun leaves the sky and it erupts with colour and shadow. Once the sun drops to about two degrees off the horizon, it will turn orange, but before then, it will reflect off any moisture or particles in the air. Look for high, scattered clouds to provide plenty of particles for reflecting light to bounce from at different angles and distances, creating a range of hues.

Pixel 7 Pro

The all-pro Google phone.

How AI cameras shoot spectacular sunsets

Of course, the complexities of capturing the setting sun are made easier when your camera does much of the work for you. Pro-level lenses and computational photography features in Pixel 7 Pro adjust the aperture automatically to account for lighting and capture brighter colours and finer detail.¹

Pixel phones help you get the best shots by using “optical flow” technology, in which the camera takes many pictures and uses that group of images to get the greatest exposure in dimming light. This feature, which includes Night Sight, uses machine learning to know what objects are supposed to look like, so even in low light, it can produce accurate images. HDR+ makes your photos look better by automatically adjusting for colour and lighting. Live HDR+ generates a preview of what your final image will look like before you take it.

Advanced editing tools such as the ones in Google Photos allow you to improve the image further, and the super fast Google Tensor chip in Pixel means all of these things can happen quickly right on your phone, instead of in the cloud, a slower process.

How these Pixel users got their shots

Pixel users are finding their camera captures the setting sun like the pros. Here’s how three of them did it:

Big Sur, California

Take your shot to the next level with editing tools

Try the exposure slider in the Camera app to get great shots like this one from Pixel user @jugger._naut, who lowers the brightness and increases the shadows on an image for dramatic effect.

“Sunsets have a dynamic range that’s tricky for most cameras,” he says. “By dialing down the highlights a bit, increasing the shadows, and letting Google HDR do its magic, a great sunset photo can be obtained.”

Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York

Use Night Sight to extend the day

The Night Sight feature helps Pixel user @iamwaynegilbert make the most of the low light at the end of the day. “One of my best tips when capturing a sunset is to always know where the light will fall,” he says. “Natural light is so much fun to work with.”

Turning on advanced editing features on your camera allows you to do everything from erasing a photo’s distractions to changing its color, light, and blur. Just make sure you set your images to save as RAW files instead of JPEGs. For even more editing options, @iamwaynegilbert also likes to use Google’s Snapseed app, which offers a complete set of professional editing features.

US Route 60 in Superior, Arizona

Consider the “rule of thirds”

Pixel user @White_Kouki says he used his Pixel 6 Pro on the way home from work one day to preserve “one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.” His trick for capturing the beautiful light and details of a sunset: think about the composition of the photo when deciding how to frame the image.

In this case, he tried to adhere to the rule of thirds, placing the subject in the bottom third of the image, while leaving the other two thirds more open with sky and clouds. “The best way to capture a photo is having a great setup before the shot,” says @White_Kouki. Then, let Pixel 6 Pro do the rest.

Takeaways

Aim for the “golden hour” – 30 minutes before sunset or 30 minutes after sunrise

Look for high, scattered clouds, better to reflect light

Use Night Sight for better shots in low light, Pixel editing tools to fine-tune

Pixel 7 Pro

The all-pro Google phone.