Lilahpops

Yesterday morning I read an excellent article on photographing rainbows over at Digital Photography School. And in the afternoon it just so happened to rain! When the sun slowly emerged after the downpour there was a rainbow, just itching to be photographed.

It couldn’t have been more timely (more so as there is a drought here in New South Wales).

With the article’s tips still fresh in my mind, I was conscious of the beginning and ending points of the rainbow.

Can you tell I have been experimenting with the new iPhoto - it’s quite a powerful tool these days.

Strangely enough, it wasn’t until I checked one of the photos in the back-screen of my camera that I noticed the rainbow was a double rainbow.

I took this photo recently on my way home from work. It was such a beautiful winter’s day. The afternoon sun was soft and the clouds were so light and fine that it looked as though they had been painted on to the sky. I pulled over for a while just to enjoy the view.

I’ve mentioned before that I love clouds and they do make superb photographic subjects. I’ve just got a copy of The Cloudspotter’s Guide- this book tells me that the wispy clouds right at the very top are called cirrus and are “…delicate streaks of falling ice crystals” which are too high up to actually reach the ground. Delicate as they are, cirrus clouds are usually a sign of worsening weather…and if I recall correctly, there was a heck of a lot of rain soon after this photo was taken.

Well, I hope this high cloud is cirrus - I only just got the book!

I was driving home from work the other night, watching the sky transform into a colorful canvas of orange and pink. Before my very eyes the rays of the sun were caught up in the clouds and shooting off into all directions. It was gorgeous! From the cursing about the fact that I was driving until the moment I was finally able to pull over to take a photo the sky must have changed shades of orange at least ten times. The sun was almost about to sink behind the mountains by the time I took this shot.

What’s the best camera setting?

I had to capture this moment so quickly that I didn’t have time to change the settings on my camera. I literally turned it on and did the point and shoot thing. Often I try different settings and see what the best was on downloading the photos to my computer.

It turns out (luckily) my camera was set to automatic, which was probably a whole lot better than macro or a bright light setting. I would love to know what the best setting for a shot like this is, in case another opportunity, like this sunset, comes up again.

What settings do you use for sunset photos?

I love ‘em. And clouds make great photographic subjects. Simply put - they are impressive.

Taking photos of clouds is a good way to practice using the various settings on your camera. The light can be so different from day-to-day that you will be able to flex those creative muscles and try out exposure and speed settings, and compare the available auto settings to manual modes.

Daydreams

Big, white fluffy clouds provoke day-dreams and whimsy. Lying on the grass and staring up at the clouds is a past-time I rarely make the time to enjoy these days. But how much fun did it used to be finding animal shapes in clouds? It’s also an incredibly easy - and free - way to de-stress from the daily grind.

Sunset

Clouds at sunset are gorgeous. The array of colours can be breath-taking. Especially at this time of year, with the soft winter sun setting. And with the rain we have finally had (yay!) there are countless numbers of clouds in the evening, all catching the colours of the setting sun.

This is my view on the way home from work each day during the winter months.

A thin layer of cloud produced a beautiful pink sunset.

A Queenstown, New Zealand sunset.

Storm clouds

Still a while to go until storm season…

Do you like to photograph clouds?