Photographing Sunsets...

Due to the perennial dust that seems to float in Kuwait (it's a desert, after all), there are plenty of opportunities to take dramatic sunset shots.
One of the challenges of photographing sunsets is to get your metering right. To ensure this, you should point your camera straight at the sun so that the camera will get the right exposure. (WARNING: Be careful!!. If you are using an optical viewfinder, make sure the sun is not too bright as it could damage your eyes).
However, I don't like to keep the sun in the center as it creates an unappealing composition, and prefer to use the Rule of Thirds for my sunset shots.

To ensure that you get the correct exposure AND the right composition, follow these steps.

1. Point you camera straight at the sun.
2. Press the shutter release half-way to lock the focus and the exposure. (Professional cameras allow you to lock the focus separately from the exposure - but that's another story).
3. Recompose your image without letting go of the shutter release button.
4. Once you've got the right composition, press the shutter the rest of the way down to capture the final image.

Here are some of my Kuwait Sunset Pictures.