RickAustin99 (dpreview, Panasonic forum, 4 April 2004)...
Everytime I pointed my FZ10 at a good sunrise behind my house, the sky was completely washed out unless I zoomed way in. Time passes. The sky was very pretty again this morning. Based on knowledge, tempered by experience, I immediately went to A/S/M Mode and selected Manual.
I opened the lens to get good depth of field (F4.6) and then adjusted the shutter speed until the color and detail of the sky looked good in the display. 1/25 sec was what did it. I manually focused on the trees. I had the camera on a tripod and shot the following exposure (plus a few more). Probably could have done it handheld but the tripod allows me to concentrate on the camera settings without worrying about moving the camera more than the OIS can compensate for. That's one less variable when I evaluate the result.
Result: the trees are silhouetted in the foreground and sharply defined, which was the plan. I think the sky colors look great.Hans `No Panicas' (dpreview, Panasonic forum, 6 April 2004)...
I think {the same result} could have {been achieved by} adjusting the EV-setting {exposure compensation} to -2/3 or -1. The washed out sky is caused by a relatively ``high'' lighted sky as compared with the darker landscape (shortly said: a lot of contrast). So the camera intelligence is trying to mediate the exposure value and causing the washed out sky and therefore preventing vivid and warm colors.
{I think F 4.6 is fine}. A (much) higher F-value (smaller aperture) will lead to a slower shutterspeed and a tripod will soon be needed.
By adjusting the EV-value to UNDER-exposure (-2/3 and further), you're sunset colors in the sky will be more vivid and warmer, and of course the landscape darker. But your intention is to emphasize the sunset colors!