Gary's sunset shots inspired me to post some snaps I took today in the smokey central valley of California this morning. It's interesting out there for photography right now, the sky is monotone, the light is quite orange (though you wont see that in my examples ;-), and subjects that would normally have distant distractions are isolated by the limited vis - natures bokeh.

Feel free to tack on your own smoke or fire related photos to this thread, let's make a collection...

All three shots taken with a K200d and Takumar 17mm FE and processed in Lightroom.

It's probably only two miles to the horizon here and you can barely make out the fourth tower...


This is cropped to the upper two thirds of the frame which highlights the interestingly curved horizon caused by the fish-eye.


Comments and critique are always appreciated.

Wow, that first one could have been taken durind the dustbowl days if it weren't for the towers.

[Dale]

Well, I liked the powerline shot, although it may miss out on the surreal colours you get beneath a good convection column!

Couple of mine,

Taken under and in previously mentioned column. Nice quiet burn, with none of those annoying helicopters overhead ruining the ambiance...

And continuing on in the powerline theme, I'm reminded just why I wanted a sealed camera...

[roentarre]

The 2nd shot is a clear simple effective shot

[Matthew Roberts]

That's exactly what I saw when I was there, especially last weekend after those lightning storms came through. But even before that the haze was horrid in the Central Valley, another element that makes me think of California as Paradise Lost.....

[cupic]

I like them all the B&W shows a time gone by feeling, and Dale yours show the rugged beautiful of a fire strange yes but the colours says it all burnt brown throw in a bit of white/grey and the colours all mix in


cheers

[heliphoto]

Wow, that first one could have been taken durind the dustbowl days if it weren't for the towers.

Yeah, an apt description of our drought eh?

Well, I liked the powerline shot, although it may miss out on the surreal colours you get beneath a good convection column!

Couple of mine,

Taken under and in previously mentioned column. Nice quiet burn, with none of those annoying helicopters overhead ruining the ambiance...

I know, I hate those noisy things . Hard to nap with them clattering overhead all the time. This is just diffuse drift smoke laying in the valley, so not giving quite the color filter effect that a dense column does. I'm sure I'll get some like that this summer... Cool shots.

That's exactly what I saw when I was there, especially last weekend after those lightning storms came through. But even before that the haze was horrid in the Central Valley, another element that makes me think of California as Paradise Lost.....

I know what you mean. I especially feel that way when I picture the SF Bay area in it's native state. Must have been unbelievable.

I like them all the B&W shows a time gone by feeling, and Dale yours show the rugged beautiful of a fire strange yes but the colours says it all burnt brown throw in a bit of white/grey and the colours all mix in


cheers

Thanks.

The 2nd shot is a clear simple effective shot

Thanks.

[heliphoto]

I spent two days on the Indians and Basin fires which are in central CA, near the town of Big Sur. I didn't get to take any aerial photos of the fires, but here are a few shot from the helibase. The active fire below is interior burning in a contained section of the Indians fire - a good example of why "contained" is different than "controlled".