Magnificent sunbeam: The other perspective (Part II.)

The previous post covered the first aspect of taking sunset images: the timing. Let's continue with another important topic, the weather conditions. This shouldn't be a suprise, as actual weather plays a decisive role in general landscape photography as well.
 

Weather conditions

Obviously there is no point in going out on an overcast day, or when thick cloud cover is just above the horizon. More surprisingly, sunset with totally clear sky is extremely boring as well! But why? Just have a look at the following image! It was taken right after a powerful snow storm  hit my country in March. (Pretty unusual event here!) I found a spot, where a snow-covered boat was sitting right before the the setting sun. Nice theme, isn't it? However it turned out to be quite boring; just a hint of orange with lots of bluish white. I added soft focusing effect in post processing to emphasize its dreamy atmosphere. But this effect still can't save the image...
 


Revenge of the Winter Prince
Revenge of the Winter Prince

 
Metadata
Camera: Canon 5D
Lens: Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 MC
Applied soft focus effect in post processing.
 
 
So what is missing here? The problem is that there is nothing, which can reflect the sunrays; so only small part around the horizon glows in orange. Let's see some better examples!
 
 

Farewell Summer
Farewell Summer

 
Metadata
Camera: Olympus E-10
Processing: Image is based on OOF camera JPEG. Additonal noise reduction applied.
 
 

Mirrored
Mirrored

Metadata
Camera: Olympus E-10
Processing: Image is based on OOF camera JPEG. Additonal noise reduction applied.
 
 
Although technical quality and color reproduction of these images are not up to today's standard (Olympus E-10 had 2/3 inch sensor...), but both photos show the importance of light cloud cover in sunset images. Just like painters, the sun also needs a "canvas" to paint on! Sadly it is impossible to perfectly predict the location of clouds beforehand... But it is worth observing the cloud patterns regularly to have a better idea about how they look like around sunset.
 
In fact approaching/leaving storms offer the best opportunities for taking unique images; basically all previously published photos were taken under such circumstances. (Good example of approacing storms are the  Solitude, Breakout and Eye of the Storm ; for leaving storms the Borderline and Yellow sky and Cloud factory )
 
As I mentioned before, thick cloud cover is not your best friend. But maybe that's just another rule to break, right?
 
 
Hiding Sun
Hiding Sun

Metadata

Camera: Sony Alpha Nex-5N
Lens: Sony 18-55mm OSS
Processing: Applied 4x5 large-format crop
 
 

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