Sunrise/Sunset/Sky

Moon Through the Trees

After taking the previous picture, of the rainbow on our family room carpet, Cathy and I went for a walk in the neighborhood. It’s been a bit cool out and even I wore a sweater and gloves (don’t be shocked—when it’s less than 20°F, even I’ll wear a bit more if I’m going to be out for a while).

As we walked east, the waxing gibbous moon was rising through the trees and I stopped long enough to take a handful of pictures. This one turned out best, the others being a little dark.

Single-Cloud Sunset

The sky was mostly clear today, at least late in the day. As I was driving home, watching the sun set in the rear-view mirror, I could see a bit of color very low in the sky but other than that, there were just a few small clouds high in the sky. I didn’t have time to get anywhere that I could both stop and have a good view of the horizon. I stopped for a few groceries, though and the few clouds overhead started to turn color. So, here’s a solitary cloud, lit up by the setting sun. Not your spectacular, all-encompassing sunset, but pretty, nonetheless.

Sunset

As I was leaving work it looked like a good sunset was shaping up. The sky was partly cloudy with clouds moving across an otherwise brilliantly blue sky. I got to my new sunset location with about ten minutes to spare before the clouds really started to light up. Of course, the best sunsets generally need the sun lighting the clouds from below, which means it’s a very brief thing as the sun drops below the horizon. This evening, unfortunately, there were clouds blocking the sun at that point, so this is as bright as it got. It was beautiful but not everything it could have been. But I couldn’t complain. I was outdoors on a wonderfully lovely evening enjoying a fleeting glimpse of solar splendor.

Winter Sunset

It was nearly 70°F yesterday but as we were driving home from Richmond it began to rain. By the time we got home (about 9:30 p.m.) it was below 50°F. This morning it was not much above freezing most of the day and by the evening it was fairly cold. On the way home I found a good spot for taking sunset pictures. I’ll need to plan on coming home that way when a sunset is in the offing. This is a panorama of five images stitched together quickly (and not necessarily expertly, but they look pretty good). I got a few individual images with a line of geese flying across, as well, but I decided I like the panorama best.

Clouds

It was a beautiful, if cool, day today and this was the view out our kitchen door at about 4:30 p.m. Not bad. Sometimes I wish we lived somewhere a bit less built up, somewhere a bit more natural and scenic. But there is plenty of beauty where we live and it’s important to be on the lookout for it. Sometimes it hits you when you least expect it. In this case, I happened to mention to Dorothy that I hadn’t taken any pictures yet. She said, “you should look out the back door, then” (or something to that effect). Yep, worth it.

Pre-Thanksgiving Snow

Well, the forecast was for snow. I thought it was supposed to be overnight but when I got up this morning, it had only been raining. It seemed to be on the edge of freezing as I came in to work. Later in the morning I got an email from my brother George saying there was a dusting on the ground in New Jersey. Albert replied that it looked about the same here. That’s when I turned around and saw the snow for the first time. I guess I was concentrating on what I was doing.

This wasn’t any sort of record in terms of earliest and certainly not the heaviest but it was still rather early and rather heavy for this area. It was coming down quite hard for a while, although it never really stuck to the roads, just to grassy areas and on cars.

Tree By Moonlight

I was out this evening and just before coming home I enjoyed looking at the moon for a while. It was fairly high in the sky at this point (about 9:30 PM) and there were clouds speeding across the sky, creating a broad glow around it. Clouds lit by the moon are quite beautiful but very difficult to photograph. Our eyes are such amazing things and anyone who thinks there are no improvements to be made in camera design hasn’t stopped to think. The moon is so bright compared to the clouds lit by its reflected light. To our eyes, the clouds are just a little dimmer than the moon but a camera isn’t fooled and isn’t so capable. To get the moon exposed correctly, you have to stop down enough for daylight. But the clouds are not in daylight and they go black, regardless of how bright they seem. To expose the clouds well, the moon becomes a washed out blob. So, no picture of the clouds and the moon this time.

Instead, here is a tree, just about ready to sleep the winter away. It is lit by the light from the moon in this 15 second exposure. Here’s something that the camera can do that we cannot—store up the light into one big packet and see in the dark.

Evening Clouds

We had a slow drive to Virginia this afternoon, taking over two hours to get through the first 60 miles and a third hour for the second 60. Shortly before the traffic eased up we stopped at a rest area. The sun was setting and the clouds were quite lovely. The higher clouds were still lit by the setting sun but there was a layer of clouds much lower that were already in the shadow of the turning earth. Those dark clouds were set off against the bright, higher clouds and made a wonderful tapestry in the sky. Certainly a nice break from interstate 95 traffic.

Rainbow at Dusk

I was just about ready to leave for youth group at church when I noticed that the light outside was amazing. You know how sometimes, just before dusk, the sky lights up with a warm glow? Well, that was going on. So I grabbed my camera to try to get a picture of that light shining on the tops of the trees out front. When I got outside, however, I found this rainbow waiting for me, so I took pictures of that, instead, against the backdrop of brightly colored clouds. I took just a few pictures with that lens, then came in to switch to the wide angle so I could get more of the rainbow. By the time I came back out, the brightness had faded a bit and before I had taken three more pictures, the rainbow was gone.

Foggy Evening

It was a foggy evening as I drove home from work today. Fog is a funny thing, when it comes to taking pictures. It rarely looks the same in the picture as it did when you took it. Also, the temptation is to increase the contrast, which ruins the effect. In this case, this is about what it looked like on the way home, taken with my do-it-yourself (or did-it-myself) dash-cam. I do like a soft, foggy evening (or morning, or night), actually.

Sunset

I was on my way to church this evening and there was a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, my drive to church has very few good places to stop and see the western horizon. Because traffic on our normal route is heavy and slow this time of the evening, I went the back way, which does go over the top of a hill and give one or two quick glimpses to the west. I stopped the car briefly to take a very few pictures and this one turned out to be pretty good, I think. There is actually the top board of a fence running across the bottom but because all the ground has gone to black, it doesn’t hurt the picture.

355 Sunset

Yes, another sunset. This time I’m sitting at the light at MD 355 watching the traffic go by and enjoying the sunset colors. In this picture, I’m actually looking almost due north, well away from the setting sun, so you can see that the amount of color in the sky is impressive. It was a beautiful sunset, lighting up the entire sky. I even took a picture or two looking to the west in my rear-view mirror, although those are not particularly good, photographically.

Sunset

It’s shaping up to be a very busy week (and since I’m writing this after the fact, I can tell you that it was). I was fortunate to be able to head home before it was completely dark today. I took this from the road, while waiting at a light to turn green. After the last sunset picture I posted, I’m glad to be able to post a proper sunset again, with the bright colors that we all love in a sunset. This is a great time of year for them, so keep your camera (or these days, your phone) ready.

Correction: This was not taken on the way home, that was tomorrow’s picture. We were on our way out to dinner with Cathy’s mom for her birthday and stopped on Perry Parkway to take this picture.

Clouds at Dusk

As sunset pictures go, I guess this is a bit weak. We expect sunset pictures to be bright and bold. This isn’t. It’s dusky and muted. That’s the sort of day it was, and that’s the sort of picture I got. Not a terrible picture, I suppose, but it isn’t going to catch and hold your attention.

Anyway, this is September 17, 2014. Good evening.

Sunset

I was just about caught up, posting the last few pictures the day they were taken or early the following day. Then it got very busy at work and I had a very hard time keeping up with everything, so this slipped. As I write this on September 26, I have finally gotten around to taking pictures off my camera from September 13 through 23. I’ll try to get caught up again. Anyway, there was a pretty sunset this evening as I was cooking dinner and I went out back for a few pictures. Most of the color was seen behind the trees but there were a few bright areas of open sky.

Clouds

It got quite warm yesterday, topping 90°F, but today was cooler and the sky was a glorious blue with fabulous layers of light clouds scattered across it. It was a long day for me, having a dentist appointment and then part of a work day, followed by a round trip to Richmond, returning by way of Baltimore, which isn’t really on the way. Because of all that I didn’t take many pictures but this is one of a few I took from my car while waiting at a traffic light.

Dusk

I took a few pictures this evening although I can’t say that they are very interesting. It rained again this evening and as the sun was getting low in the sky, the whole area took on a beautiful, slightly yellow glow. This photograph doesn’t really do it justice and of course it’s just a photo of our neighborhood, so not a lot to look at, but perhaps it will give you some idea. If you’ve ever seen this, then you know what I’m talking about and maybe you’ll appreciate it. Anyway, this is all I have today.

Sunset

Dorothy drove us to church this evening, freeing me up to take some pictures while we were on our way. The sun was low in the sky, so I put the long lens on and took a few pictures when I had a break in the trees. It’s not the sort of sunset picture that’s going to win any awards. In general, I recommend finding a good location, stopping the car, and setting up a picture like this, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. Considering how it was taken, though, I think it’s reasonably pretty

Sunset

It was another gorgeous day today, again a bit warming, up near 90°F, but a fabulous, blue sky with a few scattered clouds. As the sun dropped into the west the sky darkened to an even prettier, deeper blue. Then the clouds began to light up with a wonderful orange color.

This was the view out our kitchen door at two minutes to eight. Not bad, eh?