December 13, 2011

A Sunset for the Ages (August 24, 2011)

(It's taken me a long time to post this, as processing of these images took longer than I expected, and I was taking a conscious break from posting for some time as well. In the long run, it's was probably a good thing, as I wasn't expecting DU3 to become active as soon as it did, and this post would have met an early disappearance on DU2 if I had done it earlier.)

This past August, we spent a few days at Semiahmoo up by the Canadian border. The day we drove up, there was a great sunset...which I got to witness through the windshield of my car, as we were late getting out and arrived several hours after I had planned. I hoped that we could get there in time for me to capture it, but, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, the last of the sunset faded away, and I was left with nothing but a darkening blue sky with dark gray clouds. The next day was frustrating, too, as there was not a cloud in the sky, leaving me with a "pretty" but boring subject.

On the 24th, the forecast called for mostly sunny with a few clouds by late afternoon -- a forecast with solid potential for a good sunset. I set up from a good vantage point on the hotel's deck as the sun was starting to go down and, for awhile, it looked like a good but unexceptional sunset was in the offing.




Shortly after taking that shot, however, a bank of clouds rolled in at the horizon. Generally, that spells the end of any hope for sunset photography, as the lower clouds will block the sun's rays from hitting any of the clouds above them.




At that point, I pretty much figured the show was over. However, as I continued shooting, I saw an unexpected phenomenon that gave me hope: the lower clouds lit up from below, with a telltale glow on the horizon that suggested that the band of clouds was a narrow enough one that the sunlight would eventually be able to reach from under them.




While waiting for that to happen, I walked off to shoot other parts of the property. While setting up a shot pointing to the east, away from the sunset, I noticed that the clouds in that direction were beginning to light up in pink.




Turning around, I set up from that position pointing toward the west. In a few minutes, the show had begun in earnest.




I returned to my original vantage point just in time for the shot I had been hoping for to come to full color.




From that point, it was only a matter of picking one composition after another.

























Finally, the show was over, with time for one final image as night fell upon the bay.

December 11, 2011

Eclipse through the trees

As the lunar eclipse reached the end of totality, the moon sunk behind some trees at the end of our block. I had to shift into a tight position by the corner of our neighbor's porch to get a shot of the eclipse through a gap in the treetops.