BYC's 52-week Photography Challenge. Week 1: (Jan 5-11, 2026). Theme: Sunset

[azurbanclucker]

Hey gang!
The 52-week challenge Kicks off with our first theme:

Sunset.

For this week's challenge, we'd like to see a nicely composed image of your best sunset:

• Your image should be in LANDSCAPE orientation (wider than it is tall. Turn your phone sideways)
• It should include some kind of foreground element (trees, building, fence line, etc.) and your sunset sky.
• It should be an image that you take THIS WEEK. Don't drag out old photos for this. The idea is to work on developing or improving a different skill each week. Even if it's a cloudy mess.
• HAVE FUN!
• ASK QUESTIONS! There are a lot of photographers here on BYC and they all love to help.

Some suggestions.

• Spend a couple of minutes thinking about what may make a visually interesting image around you, then set yourself up to capture that image. (like maybe there's an old tree out back, or the water tower up the road, or the mountains to the west. Etc, etc...)
• Be prepared to spend 20-30 minutes taking photos as the light and colors change. Then post your favorite shot from your session.
• Post as many of them as you would like.

Lastly, please specify if you would like some constructive feedback or if you're just sharing.

Here's a few examples for inspiration.

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All of the 2026 challenges can be seen here!​

 

[User690263]

This looks fun! I think I'll give it a try, I'm not a very good photographer so my pictures probably won't be very good, but I think it'll be fun to do it anyway. (Hopefully there'll be some good sunsets in the following days...)

 

[azurbanclucker]

This looks fun! I think I'll give it a try, I'm not a very good photographer so my pictures probably won't be very good, but I think it'll be fun to do it anyway. (Hopefully there'll be some good sunsets in the following days...)

You don't have to be a good photographer to participate! The whole idea with this challenge series this year is to get people thinking about how they take photos and to learn/improve their skills.

 

[StinkyAcres]

You don't have to be a good photographer to participate! The whole idea with this challenge series this year is to get people thinking about how they take photos and to learn/improve their skills.

Great idea!

 

[azurbanclucker]

Great idea!

All credit goes to @casportpony . I am but her instrument

 

[Perris]

I would appreciate some constructive feedback please; I took a series of tonight's sunset. Of these two representative examples, which is better (and why): the zoomed in where you can see outline of bare winter deciduous trees in the near ground, and conifers in the far ground, or panned out, which also shows a bird flying off to roost, and golden sunbeams?

 

[azurbanclucker]

I would appreciate some constructive feedback please; I took a series of tonight's sunset. Of these two representative examples, which is better (and why): the zoomed in where you can see outline of bare winter deciduous trees in the near ground, and conifers in the far ground, or panned out, which also shows a bird flying off to roost, and golden sunbeams?
View attachment 4277589

I LOVE the color in this. it's a bit noisy overall (and it really shows in the foreground) which I'm chalking up to digital zoom? Was this taken with a cell camera?

As a sunset, it's a little mediocre simply because of the zoom. it isn't BAD, it's just, kinda there. I think for me it's mostly because you lose that sense of a grand landscape as a tradeoff for the zoom into the sun.

View attachment 4277591

As a sunset photo, I prefer this one. It has a more sweeping view and you have the visually spectacular light rays firing up as the sun sinks below the clouds. Compositionally, You've got some dust spots that could be corrected in post. I might also bump the contrast, and tweak highlights/shadows to give those clouds a bit more texture and you could lighten the ground just a tad so there's a little more definition

Thanks for sharing your sunset with us!

 

[Perris]

Thanks for the feedback, which is very helpful @azurbanclucker

Was this taken with a cell camera?

No. It is a Panasonic Lumix pocket camera with telephoto lens.

Compositionally, You've got some dust spots that could be corrected in post. I might also bump the contrast, and tweak highlights/shadows to give those clouds a bit more texture and you could lighten the ground just a tad so there's a little more definition

Thank you for those suggestions; I'll play around with it in the editor and see what happens. Normally I just point and shoot, and sometimes zoom. I hope to improve my skills with this challenge, as intended! Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

My schedule is typically tight around the time the sun is setting, but I'm going to try getting out there this week. I have an idea I really want to try with this one.

 

[casportpony]

No. It is a Panasonic Lumix pocket camera with telephoto lens.

Which model?