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My favorite time of the year. Tonight was my 14th day in a row being at the pond taking sunset shots. I might be a little sleep deprived but my joy factor with life has gotten beyond the sated phase. Got to enjoy this while it lasts before those 100% stratus days start up again. It was another night with perfect placement of clouds for optimal viewing. Oh, and it took so long to go through, chose and edit all the images of the evening that it is tomorrow already. So these are from the evening of Aug. third if you are looking at them sometime in the future. Started off with what it looked like when I got to the pond. There was a little sun dog on the left side of the Sun... A little more of a broad view pre-sunset... Post sunset and the way the *white* clouds kind of made semi-circles, intrigued me... The greatest extent of the red flash... Some of that violet color that I think is smoke induced. Oh and the moon also... Not sure if I should share this one but I think I shall. This is all about the white clouds at the top and middle of the image. While they might not be noctilucent clouds they have to be close cousins. The clouds have to pretty high up to still be white when I am so far past sunset. Matter of fact it was 43 minutes past local sunset to this image. Also the incidental light on that cloud to the right looks pretty wild. So this image has a few things that I like...

Looking at the satellite after I got home I confirmed what I thought out at the pond earlier. I was right on the edge of the clouds. Had clouds to the north and west. But the east and south were barren. Gave me some nice cirrus to image. Local sunset and the yellows... Post sunset and the orange... The red flash was rather rapid and a little diffuse... And way past time I should have headed home. I really like the young moon in the upper left. Just gives the image a little lift...

Not much to the sunset this evening. I still put in an appearance at the pond though. Post sunset there was this thin, little cloud that looked like it formed on a smoke boundary... Also had some diffuse and faint cloud shadows going on for another short period of time. I am not sure if the shadows were from the front edge in Iowa or the top of the cells in South Dakota. I am going to guess South Dakota, but what do I know... Tried shooting it this way so see if it was *easier* to see. You be the judge...

Was another *fun* evening out at the pond. Started off close to local sunset. A nice combo of clouds... Did not look like there was going to be much color post sunset so I was messing around trying to get a decent reflection image... Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, some decent red seemed to pop up out of no where. Looking back a the visual satellite I now see the reason it happened. The clouds over southern Iowa were moving towards Missouri. When they got far enough south it suddenly let the red through as the Sun made its way around the bend under the horizon... Here I tried to make the image as symmetrical as possible...

Thank you Lake Michigan for the lake boundary clouds this evening. I know usually I curse you for the 100% stratus days but today I needed your influence to have some clouds to shoot at sunset. Close to sunset... Clouds off to the south with some nice color... Sort of early post sunset... Really late post sunset...

Kind of a different night at the pond. The rain of the afternoon had passed on to the east but the low level moisture was hanging tough. Made for some waiting but also some nice images. When I first got to the pond there was some nice sun dogs with that perfectly placed cloud... Looking to the north with the high white cirrus and the yellow low level clouds... And now looking east at the same conditions as above... Then there was a break as a solid layer of clouds ran overhead. It was one hour between the above image and this one... Of course, losing the daytime heating the clouds melted away as the light died with them...

Pre-system sunsets can be chancy affairs. At least there was some cirrus to shoot this evening. When I got to the pond and from my normal position... Moved over to the fishermen's point to get this cirrus off to the north... Post sunset color right on the horizon... And finishing the evening with a look at the same cirrus cloud that I started with but much later and from farther towards the north side of the pond...

I was not sure that the evening would bring, but I was ready for about anything for once. An overview hen I got out to the pond. this image is looking about due west. You can see some rain way, way far away in Illinois. Then there is a cell to the north in the right side of the image. I was interested in the orange in the northwest. If the corridor opened up just a little bit the post sunset color could be good... As close to local sunset as I was going to get with a visual on the Sun. While the above image was with the 16-35mm. This image was with the 24-70mm... About the best color dynamics, and a switch back to the 16-35... The red flash, caught with the 24-70... And ending the evening back on the 16-35mm with the incidental light on the clouds above my head... Was such a strange night in that all those lens changes and I was ahead of the curve all night. Making the proper choice with plenty of time to get set up in time and not miss anything I wanted. Usually I am frantic at some point and miss something but this worked out rather nicely. And the sky cooperated also

A nice night out at the pond. The clouds were out there. And it was just a pleasant evening to soak up the colors. Close to local sunset, real close... Close to maximum color dynamics ... Once again had that violet color late, late in the evening. Very pretty...

Had some normal clouds to go with the smoke this evening. Sun above the horizon... Sun below the horizon... Late color and clouds...

Not a cloud in the sky for the sunset this evening. But I made a guess that maybe the Canadian smoke might make a nice visual. I might have guessed right. Local sunset... looks OK if maybe a little boring... Max orange... starting to look a little bit better... The rest of the images are all about the violet and red... Starting off with the red up high... Full on gak violet, on the horizon... Ending the evening with max red on the horizon and the billboard lit up...

Some crepuscular rays when I got out to the pond this evening... About the best I could do before the virga on steroids ran me back to my car. I was not expecting rain at all....

The dry air was winning this evening. The clouds did not make to the sunset. So this is a single image looking south at the retreating clouds while the sun was still above the horizon.

Tonight the sky conditions changed rapidly and seemingly constantly. Could not complain about being bored out at the pond. Was busy from the time I got there to the time I packed up and left. When I arrived it was still raining as you can see in the pond here... Fortunately the rain stopped and the clouds right on the horizon in the first image climbed to above the billboard... As close to local sunset as the conditions would allow... Getting more vertical showed all the different cloud layers... While there was a little color post sunset, the scud tried to put a block on the max orange here... There was just a little red and it was on the backside of the scud so it is kind of hard to see but it did make a nice ending for the evening...

I am going to start off with an error that ended up looking fairly decent. After dinner, grabbed the camera which had been inside all day in the A/C and ran to the pond. Set up the camera, popped the lens cover off and *poof* instant condensation. Taking the cold camera and lens from the cold house straight to the oven like conditions gave me a cloud inside the lens. So I am taking a picture of clouds through the clouds in my camera. You could say I am doubled down on clouds in this image. I kind of like the result... Here is what it looked like after the lens had equalized and I could get back to trying to accurately image the conditions... Here is the post sunset clouds...

No great amount of clouds this evening. But the smattering was positioned properly, so the attempt was made. Started off toward the side of the pond I do not make it to very often. The orientation of the clouds took me over there... Back to the fishermen point but seeing how they were driven indoor with the blistering heat, I had to whole place to mayself. Max orange... And ending the evening looking due north...

Well, I had no plans for sunset pics this evening. Had a dental procedure today and was not feeling 100%. Plus it looked like the Bobby remnants had over run the area. Well a couple of sucker holes opened up just at the right time. But I had already put the car away and was about to jump in the shower. So I just took these from the yard with all the trees, lights and wires in the way. What it looked like when I realized it was going to do something... A shout out here to a gal in the back seat of a Jeep product, that when they drove by she pointed over my shoulder and all I heard was "bowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww". Turned around and darn if she was not right. an orange rainbow from the orange light. Back to the northwest again and the max orange... Max red and I was able to step back into the house and call it an evening...

With a boundary to the north and east. And Bobby to the west a south, an alley of clear from Indiana to Iowa with a northwest orientation was perfect made for some post sunset color. It did end up being nice. The conditions when I got out to the pond... As the post sunset start with the light orange... And now onto the dark orange... And finishing up with the red flash...

After two straight days of not a cloud in the sky for the sunset, it was nice to have something to shoot. Even though it was distant and diffuse. The start of the orange... Max red, which did not last long...

It is a good thing I did not look at the visual satellite before going out to the pond this evening. After dinner I just looked at the sky and thought, " I might get lucky and catch a break between cells". I would have missed some color if I did not go out there. Did not start off well though. Originally I walked down to the pond but while there, a bolt of two of lightning and a shaft of rain drove me back to the car. First image was from beside the car while it was still sprinkling but the lightning had moved east and north of me by then... I was finally able to make it back down to the side of the pond even though it was still spitting raindrops. I do not quite understand the red in this image. It was still too early for red. The rain shaft must have bent the light somehow to get the red in this image. You can see the bright yellow behind it! A head-scratcher for sure... I think this is the only image here of the evening with no raindrops falling in it. And this is the start of the orange up high... Max red and I was back under the spitting rain again... Good night my darlin' wherever you are...

Looking at the visual satellite this afternoon, I thought there was a decent chance of a nice sunset this evening. When I got to the pond all the clouds were well on the horizon. Here is what it looked like post sunset with the 100mm... Once the Sun rolled over the horizon the cirrus overhead started getting illuminated. Do not ask about the focus here, operator error... Things got really wild with the red flash. Got some cloud shadows from over the horizon to add some spice... Conditions stayed good through the red passing to the horizon. It was so dark that the billboard even lit up... Well worth losing a little sleep over this.

Tonight was all about the crepuscular rays and cloud shadows. Some of them quite vivid. This way... That way... Just a little bit of a search light on that tiny cloud in the upper left... Even some with the max color dynamics of the evening...

Oooops. It is after midnight. I have been late in processing this evening's photos. So those of you looking at this months later, these were taken on the evening of the sixth. Houston we are go for main engine start. Ignition! … Maxorange. And I am proud of this image because it has zero cropping. The way you see it is the way it came out of the camera other than cloning out a semi on the interste and the lights on the warehouse. … Some max red and blue with a little bit of violet thrown in... And this is extremely late. So late that the color at the top is all with incidental light. Reflected light off of the horizon gave me a second and very late *red* flash. Enjoy!

I had no plans to head to the pond. But leaving the eatery I saw that there might be a chance of a rainbow so I changed my mind. On the north side of town it was bone dry. When I got to the center of town, where I live, it was spitting a few drops. I grabbed the camera and started heading to the south side of town and the pond. The farther south I got the rain became steadier and the sun popped out. By the time I got to the south side park it was raining a decent clip and the rainbow was bright so I pulled over and snapped this... Glad I did stop there and take that as when I continued on, by the time I got to the pond it was raining too heavy for good rainbow conditions. But I did take a shot of the *hole* the Sun used to make that rainbow after the sunset sank below the cloud level... In both instances I was shooting through the open window of the car while the camera was still on the tripod. The tripod is just lying across the seat and it is hard to tell if I am level or not. Also with it raining in both images I apologize for any image quality degradation.

Tonight was a much simpler decision choice. Close to local sunset with the overhead still white... Max color overhead but it was only orange this evening... Extreme post sunset and some over-the-horizon cloud shadows. Probably from the top of the cells in Iowa...