I wish I knew more about photography. That's actually an incorrect statement. I wish I knew something/anything about photography besides point and click. Yes, I have a good eye for beauty, but that doesn't give me any way to convincingly convey to you what the sky looked like on Sunday.
It had crepuscular rays all day long, from sun up to sun down.
From our backyard to the co-op parking lot to the highway. Crazy clouds that looked out of focus even before I pointed the camera at them. Crazy colors in mid-morning.
Roger says I should learn how to do manual focus and F stop stuff. I say, what? My brain is on overload all the time as it is. Put more stuff up there? No way.
So, this is what you get. It really looked like this, but who would believe me?
I do. I believe you. And they are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThank you, kenju. Much appreciated.
DeleteI'm okay with what we're getting any which way you do it. The clouds in that last picture look like a 3D drawing without the glasses on. Looking forward to more always.
ReplyDeleteThank you, jsk. I said to Roger when I was photographing that last photo, "These clouds look out of focus right from here." It was so interesting and strange.
DeleteIn my experience, it's really hard to capture what you see in a photograph. You're doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for that, Mark. The sky was crazy spectacular. When the camera focused on the light sky, the ground was dark. I really tried to balance it all out, so you could see what we saw.
DeleteAppears that you have more spectacular clouds than we do or maybe I am looking down at flowers and bugs too much.
ReplyDeleteLast month, I wrote Les Crowley of Atmospheric Optics and asked him if there was anything particular about our skies here that would provide so many spectacular views. He said, no, the skies here are not unusual, but what was unusual was that I look up. I do spend a lot of time looking at the sky, and I miss the little critters on the ground.
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ReplyDeleteI don't care what Mr. Crowley says, it has to be where you live. My skies just don't look like that. Absolutely beautiful.
ReplyDeletePatti, I often think the same thing, it has to be these skies. So, now I want to travel and take a look up in new places.
DeleteLove those crepuscular rays -- all day long (-:
ReplyDeleteDid you know that rabbits are crepuscular?
In looking up the word "crepuscular" on Google, I learned that rabbits are "crepuscular", meaning they are most active in the twilight hours of both sunrise and sunset.
Now that you mention it, am, I wonder if I should call them crepuscular rays. They started out at sunrise, but then lasted all day. Do daytime rays have their own name? Interesting...
Deleteactually, that's the definition of crepuscular I know, and I wondered how it applied to clouds!
Deletespectacular!
Maryanne, I'm glad you liked the pics. Crepuscular applies to the sun rays that are defined by the clouds. But rays that last all day, should they be called crepuscular? Or, were we seeing some other solar phenomenon? I told the cashier at the co-op that everyone should run outside and look at the sky. She said she had just had a break and was looking up. She said she loved those "solar rays."
Deletegreat skies! you really do capture them well. Yes, learning manual settings would give you more options, but it will take some study and practice. You can always use photoshop to enhance so that it looks more like you saw it through the naked eye.
ReplyDeleteWe had rain here tonight! Have you?
We had more than an inch of rain yesterday. It was grand.
Deleteas always, robin, i am impressed with your photography and your skies. i have tried looking up more often, but i still don't see what you do! oh, well, just another way you enhance my life - sharing your beautiful skies along with the many words and ideas you have shared through the years. thanks lots, robin. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for these kind words, sky.
DeleteWhilst out walking yesterday, we observed wildly textured clouds. I thought at the time they heralded some change. And so it cooled down, and rains even now.
ReplyDeleteI hope your clouds bring relief.
We had more than an inch of rain on Labor Day. Quite unusual for early September. We're still expecting hot temperatures, but what a relief it was to have a cool day. Temps didn't get above 65!
DeleteDon't worry about point and click, just take the photo or loose the moment. Your doing ok from what I can see.
ReplyDeletehttp://spudsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/balloon-over-fforest.html
Yes! If I had to fumble around figuring out what the shutter speed should be or the manual focus, I would definitely lose the moment. Thank you for that.
DeleteBeautiful! I always thought manual was a bit over-rated and snobbish. Why not take advantage of technology?
ReplyDeleteNCmountainwoman, you made us laugh out loud. Wonderful point!
DeleteNo, your clouds are spectacular. I look at the sky a lot and we don't get cloud formations like that. Even iridescence isn't as frequent. It may not be special for the west coast, but sure is special to this inland east coast woman!
ReplyDeleteTara makes a good point about Photoshop (or GIMP, which is open source and free). Most great photography is manipulated. It used to happen in the darkroom, now it happens on the computer. But it happens!
For iridescence, what I do is drop the brightness first--it makes a noticeable difference--then boost the saturation. I'll send you a sample.
I'd love to see your photos of iridescence. I find photographing the sky from a small opening in the woods a tricky endeavor!
DeleteYou can say what you want about your skills with a camera, but I'm telling you that these photos are great! I enlarged them all. What amazing skies! A tiny bit of tweaking would be fine and in may cases, today's P&S cameras make better decisions than the photographer. If you want more control over your camera, I PROMISE you that it's much easier to do that, than to learn PS or GIMP. They are complicated and NOT easy to learn or master. I'm sure that there is a program already on your computer that will allow you to do whatever tweaking you want. Having a "good eye" is the most important thing anyway. You have a good eye already!
ReplyDeleteThank you for such kind words, Pat. I do tweak the photos. I'm just never sure they actually convey what we saw with our eyes. The tall dark pines and the crazy bright sky make for very tricky lighting.
DeleteThere was a very nice sun dog this morning, rather elongated with very clear colors. Of course I was looking at it while I was driving, so there way no way to get a picture. Rats! Foiled again!
ReplyDeleteMark, I have often said to Roger on our way out the door that I should leave the camera home. That way I know for certain something great will cross our path.
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