Enjoying the Painted Sky

I’m a visual person. I love color, shapes, patterns, angles, etc. And I really love seeing a pretty sky. And interesting clouds. Heck, I even like a completely empty sky when it’s that amazing, intense blue you usually get after a huge storm has passed. You know, since the storm has almost completely scrubbed the atmosphere of moisture.

Anyway… I captured quite a few sky shots the other day at the Blackwater Refuge. Some are even good enough for me to want to share here.

As I’m looking at these pics, I see my CMOS sensor needs to be cleaned again. Sigh… Maybe no one else notices or even knows what that means? LOL.

That picture doesn’t do the sky justice. The spot of intense color was neat to see. Those instances of color are very fleeting, so I had to work fast, and I didn’t capture it very well.

I had to darken the final image, using PhotoShop, to make the intense color appear in the photo. Now the picture just looks too blue to me. I decided I’d share it anyway.

 

 

 

I love how the short contrail/flat-and-skinny cloud toward the top, center part of the frame is lit up.

I get very excited when I see the sky lit up, and I usually start clicking away at the shutter button, trying hard to capture the color appropriately or at least in a way that’s pleasing to the eye. The problem is, I don’t always remember to make sure the horizon is flat.

Since I’ve mentioned that on here, I figured I’d give you an example.

 

The second shot is passable, but it’s still not perfect. I can’t remember if I was trying to capture a flat horizon with that shot, or if I just got lucky.

Below is an edited version of the same, passable shot.

See how much better?

Is it me, or do the clouds look like a goose in flight?

Here’s another look at that same cloud formation.

A pretty end to an interesting, but cold, day.