Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Isla Mujeres has some beautiful sunsets. There are several keys points that I try to follow when I photograph the sunset:

• Don't center the horizon. Either the sky has great colouring and interesting clouds, or the ground takes on interesting hues because of the waning sun changing the light reflecting off it. Whichever is more interesting, make that 2/3 of the picture.
• Vertical orientation of the photo makes it more dramatic.
• Horizontal orientation of the photo makes it more serene and stable.
• Put the sun in the extreme corners or just outside of the photo. The sun is a really hot subject and will blow out everything around. If you want the sun in the shot, use a silhouette and put the sun behind something.
• The sunset colours will continue past the sun dropping below the horizon. So many photographers leave when the sun disappears. Stick around, wait for it to get dark.
• Towards the sun is not the only direction you should look in. Turn around. Sometimes what is behind you and reflecting the sunset colours will be just as picturesque.
• Focus to infinity. The light will change incredibly fast. If you set the focus beforehand, you have one less thing to wait for. You can just bang out composition after composition with varying orientations.
• Backlit and silhouette shots are great during sunsets. Sunsets are all about colours from the sky and shapes (of the clouds, objects between you and the horizon, 'scapes on the horizon). You cannot get anything further than the sun, so use those shapes to make your photo interesting.

When I took this picture, I was thinking of the quintessential vacation picture. Sunset, ocean, beach, exactly two people, palm trees, etc. Isla Mujeres ("Island of Women") is an amazing place.