[Das Boot]

There are some evenings and mornings that just blow me away with the colors and it always takes me by surprise. Is there a set of weather conditions that could help me anticipate such?

[Ratmagiclady]

There are some evenings and mornings that just blow me away with the colors and it always takes me by surprise. Is there a set of weather conditions that could help me anticipate such?

In New England, it'd always be when the prevailing winds had been coming off the Rust Belt, that'd blow the colorful pollution our way. For 'cold' dawn light, just the reverse in the city, the onshore breeze would tend to bring it. Consequently, there'd be spectacular sunsets, cause most of this would be to the west.

I'd guessed you're in the Dakotas, and I never did develop much of a weather-sense on the Great Plains. Unstable weather would tend to trigger a more maritime sense of uneasiness in my own body, though, and this would often correlate with interesting light.

If you go a bit lean on exposure, you could probably get something out of a sunset there. They always looked rather pallid to me. (At the time I was there, I just wasn't working in color, (and I never considered myself to have much of an eye for landscapes to begin with) so that's just a guess.)

[Das Boot]

I'd guessed you're in the Dakotas

RML - I don't live far from you... South Cackalacky is southern wah hoo for South Carolina. Upstate to be exact.

[Ratmagiclady]

RML - I don't live far from you... South Cackalacky is southern wah hoo for South Carolina. Upstate to be exact.

Heh, who'd have guessed.

But.

Hrm. Well, the eastern view shouldn't be too different. I note here that dawn often looks quite yellow-white white rather than 'cold,' though. Interesting, but I've yet to really get the hang of this electronic white-balance aspect to things.

My sunset view is pretty routinely blocked, despite often being downwind of Atlanta: I only ever really see the edges of what may be the occasional big sunset. Are you in the hills or on the coast?


I once accidentally-cooked a linear polarizer as a kid, I'm recalling for some reason. (Tried it in early morning light, got distracted, and ended up leaving it in pretty hot direct sun all day) It made pretty interesting sunset shots that night, (I was shooting Kodachrome 25, IIRC: I used to remember every exposure I ever made, unlike today. ) but I never tried to replicate the results, or realized the PL was so fried until I got results from other rolls under more ordinary conditions.)

RML - I don't live far from you... South Cackalacky is southern wah hoo for South Carolina. Upstate to be exact.

Can't believe people don't know where South Cackalacky is.

There are some evenings and mornings that just blow me away with the colors and it always takes me by surprise. Is there a set of weather conditions that could help me anticipate such?

The best defense is to always, without fail have a camera with you.

[Ratmagiclady]

Can't believe people don't know where South Cackalacky is.

Hey, I'm not from here, you know. About my entire experience of South Carolina was a very nice lady serving us a very nice breakfast very nicely, then turning on a radio which said God said very bad things should be done (presumably by very nice people) to myself and who I was traveling with. Similar experiences followed at the gas station and Denny's the next morning.

Essentially, I goosed it for the border. Nicely.

(The upshot of which is, if anyone said 'Cackalackey,' I was concerned I was the one who was the 'lackey' of Gods-know-what to be kacked. )

The biscuits, however, were exquisite.

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Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 12-04-2009 at 05:28 PM.

[reeftool]

I have found that some of the most spectacular sunsets occur at the close of a stormy day when there are still a lot of clouds and the sun breaks out through a clearing on the western horizon. It almost makes the clouds appear to be on fire. I might add that when I have seen those sunsets, I usually haven't followed graphicgr8s's advice and had my camera with me.

It depends on where you are as well. Here in the bay area, the right amount of fog will produce spectacular sunsets as will smog. This summer was great for sunset colour because of the smoke from the big fires down south coming up and mixing with the fog.

I should imagine a couple of kilotons going off in the mountains of Afghanistan or the deserts of Iraq would produce some spectacular sunsets for quite a period. Not very nioce for the locals though.

You could say "A photographers sunset is another man's calamity".

[Ratmagiclady]

It depends on where you are as well. Here in the bay area, the right amount of fog will produce spectacular sunsets as will smog. This summer was great for sunset colour because of the smoke from the big fires down south coming up and mixing with the fog.

I should imagine a couple of kilotons going off in the mountains of Afghanistan or the deserts of Iraq would produce some spectacular sunsets for quite a period. Not very nioce for the locals though.

You could say "A photographers sunset is another man's calamity".

I don't know about kiloton nukes, but when Mt. Pinatubo blew, we most certainly had wonderful, even scary, sunsets.

[Jasvox]

The best defense is to always, without fail have a camera with you.

I agree 100%.

Quite frequently I am on my rooftop terrace with my dogs at around 5-5.30 for their 30 minutes of ball playing and running around. About 1-2 times per week, I witness, from the best possible view out over the city, the sunsets over the Aegean sea. The perspective from from on high and with the background scenery here in Athens makes for some simply stunning moments with the skies, colors, textures, etc. I have a habit nowadays of each time I go up for their "play time", that I bring my camera, without fail, because those stunning moments sometimes only last a minute or two and being without camera is unforgivable.

Back to Conditions for a sunset...I have found that 12-24 hours before a storm system moves through, and if it times itself just right, can produce some vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and depending on cloud coverage, steel blue all the way into smokey purples...all at once. I should post a few...

Jason

[Das Boot]

The best defense is to always, without fail have a camera with you.

Or really a time machine. Most of the time the sunset/sinrise around here is a normal yellow. The repetition of it is what gets me... Last night, I went outside to let the dogs up from the backyard and there were still a few remnants of red, pink and purple in the sky. It was long past sunset and outside of the west, the sky was getting black. I had missed it entirely. The reason for the thread was to find out if there were any known weather conditions that made for better sunrise/sunsets... Something I could anticipate. I had a camera, just a missed opportunity.

[Jasvox]

I'd like to know if you get an answer of the perfect formula for predicting a sunset too...if so, I will be happy man. Until then, I will be patient and let serendipity rule.

Jason

[Das Boot]

I'm sure there's no perfect formula, I was just wondering if anyone had happened to notice that say after a nasty storm with a temperature drop there are usually some nice colors. Maybe I should blindly email NOAA and ask if there's a budding photographer among them that has noticed favorable conditions. I don't know, the question seems kind of stupid now.

[Das Boot]

Ok, here's a few links I found. The first is pretty much a repeat of this thread - I do like the first response...

Best way to find beautiful sunsets and sunrises is to leave your camera at home, I have found. They're stunning, then.

Site 1
Site 2