Iridescence by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

[Tonytee]

OMG!! What brilliant capture. Absolutely mesmerizing. Many thanks for sharing.

TT

[RobG]

OMG!! What brilliant capture. Absolutely mesmerizing. Many thanks for sharing.

TT

Thanks Tony! It was cool to see.

[Sailor]

What an unusual cloud display (at least for SE Texas ). Good eye, Rob.

Jer

[RoxnDox]

Oooooooooh, SHINY...


Great photo!

[Apet-Sure]

Wow, that is really cool! I think there is a term for this atmospheric phenomenon, but of course I can't think of it now. A few months ago someone posted a similar image, and IIRC they named it.

[photoptimist]

Great capture! And a very fine example, too!.

These kinds of iridescent clouds are not that rare (see Cloud iridescence - Wikipedia) but they are very easy to miss because they are near the sun and extremely brightly lit. Notice the exposure settings of 1/3200 sec @ f/13.5. That's almost 5 stops faster that sunny f/16. To someone looking at a normal scene, these clouds look bright white.

The best way to spot them is to carefully block the sun with something -- your hand, a building, a mountain ridge, etc.

[Kerrowdown]

Iridescence

That's a high wow factor from me... never seen anything like this in my skies.

[Kerrowdown]

To someone looking at a normal scene, these clouds look bright white.

Great that explains it... good enough for me to prove I'm not blind.

[Tonytee]

Great capture! And a very fine example, too!.

These kinds of iridescent clouds are not that rare (see Cloud iridescence - Wikipedia) but they are very easy to miss because they are near the sun and extremely brightly lit. Notice the exposure settings of 1/3200 sec @ f/13.5. That's almost 5 stops faster that sunny f/16. To someone looking at a normal scene, these clouds look bright white.

The best way to spot them is to carefully block the sun with something -- your hand, a building, a mountain ridge, etc.

Mr. photoptimist, many thanks for a very informative and useful description.

TT

[RobG]

What an unusual cloud display (at least for SE Texas ). Good eye, Rob.

Thanks Jer!

Oooooooooh, SHINY... Great photo!

It sure was! Thanks.

Wow, that is really cool! I think there is a term for this atmospheric phenomenon, but of course I can't think of it now. A few months ago someone posted a similar image, and IIRC they named it.

I'm pretty sure that it's called cloud iridescence.

Great capture! And a very fine example, too!.
These kinds of iridescent clouds are not that rare (see Cloud iridescence - Wikipedia) but they are very easy to miss because they are near the sun and extremely brightly lit. Notice the exposure settings of 1/3200 sec @ f/13.5. That's almost 5 stops faster that sunny f/16. To someone looking at a normal scene, these clouds look bright white.
The best way to spot them is to carefully block the sun with something -- your hand, a building, a mountain ridge, etc.

Thanks for putting up the link. I have another photo taken in the past showing "mare's tails" with a brilliant rainbow. That one wasn't as close to the sun, In this case I was getting lens flare. Having said that, because I'd seen it in the past, I noticed the rainbows with the naked eye when I looked out the window, but most people would probably have missed it.

That's a high wow factor from me... never seen anything like this in my skies.

Thanks!

Great that explains it... good enough for me to prove I'm not blind.

It seems to be something that occurs here at certain times of the year when the temperatures are just right. In high latitudes like Scotland, you'll get other effects that I'll never see here. Canberra's latitude is close to that of Gibraltar, which might give you an idea of how much closer we are to the equator than Europe.

Mr. photoptimist, many thanks for a very informative and useful description.

Seconded!

[Heinrich Lohmann]

What a wonderful catch

[RobG]

What a wonderful catch

Thanks Heinrich! FWIW I saw this phenomenon again today (but didn't have the opportunity to photograph it) while driving back to the office from lunch.