Orange setting sun

While driving home recently, I looked in the mirror and saw a gorgeous orange sunset. The sun was low in the sky and without clouds was a full sphere. I don’t envy those driving towards it as I have no doubt it was blinding. As I’m prone to do, I pulled over and setup my tripod. Here are two images with varying exposures and focal lengths.

The first image I wanted to include more of the overall scene including foreground detail.

orange glow sunset over the roadway
Allowing more ambient light with a shutter drag brings out all elements of the scene. Larry Shapiro photo

In the second image, I metered directly on the sun for maximum detail in the highlights while rendering other elements of the image secondary.

orange sunset
Exposing for the sun creates a dramatic image while still retaining minimal amounts of detail throughout. Larry Shapiro photo