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Another amazing night out at the pond. Starting off around local sunset... The orange flash was all close to the horizon... The red flash was worth the price of admission. One of those, "Woah!" moments. The crepuscular rays ( or cloud shadows ) from over the horizon were spectacular. The Great Father in the Sky outdid himself this evening. Salute!

Best cloud was to the east this evening... The view to the west. Not much happening there...

Some nice color this evening. The extent of the clouds... The best dynamics... The best of the red flash that was more a purple flash...

I almost did not make the trip to the pond. I looked at the visual satellite first and was unsure. Who am I kidding? I was going to be out there regardless. What it looked like when I got out there... As the color started in earnest....

While last night was all brash and in your face, this evening was laid back and subtle. Looking East north east when I got to the pond... Right after local sunset... The last of the color as it fades away...

An extremely colorful evening at the pond tonight. The post-sunset begins... The greatest dynamics happened here. I like the orange to the white clouds in the middle and back to orange again. Only to repeat it again in the reflection... To show your the greatest extent of color, this is at 16mm and it sort of chops the ends off a little bit. Color everywhere... As usual, when the colors fade into the distance they get a little funky. Groovy man....

Another evening that tries the patience. Pre-sunset... Then the clouds rolled in again. Will the rest be a washout? Nice design though... And sometimes if you wait long enough, the clouds will erode... Bonus fading color...

When I got to the pond this evening with the 16-35mm... There was a small, quick splash of color post sunset. With the 16-35mm... As the color was fading away, With the 100mm... Just as an aside, looking at the visual satellite, I can not see how that splash of color happened. Was that little sucker hole in eastern Iowa the trigger? Good thing I did not look at the computer before hand. I would have never been out there if I did.

Best dynamics from this evening... The max red was due south this evening. I slewed the camera in that general direction. Kind of surprised traffic on the interstate cooperated and gave me a break to get this image in. That almost never times out right.

Pre-sunset this evening... Post-sunset with a nice cloud shadow lurking on the right side...

The complex in Iowa kind of put a damper on the sunset colors here. I did manage to get one decent image before everything went kind of blah.

Tonight I did not care for the color, so it ended up being a B&W kind of night. Looking west with some crepuscular rays... Looking east at some structure... Again...

Looking at the visual satellite earlier in the day, I thought this sunset might be rather vivid. As the Sun sinks beneath the horizon, the color starts... The wind only died down for a moment, this is the stillest the water got... The rest of the way the wind picked back up so I forgot about reflections and just worried about color. Max yellow... Max red...

Tonight was going to be a race between the setting Sun and the storms blowing up in Illinois. When I got out to the pond, the first cloud band was passing through... You can see just how fast those storms are coming up as the Sun gets closer to the horizon... Probably the best light dynamics... You can see from the previous image that just north of me had a great red sunset. Here is a wider view to confirm...

Might have been a reach being out there but I was out at the pond again this evening. The only clouds were to the north east when I got out there... Best color was to the south east with the back edge of the departing system... This was just an experiment of how late I could take a color shot...

Well, I was not going to take any pictures today but the rain moving in looked decent so I fired off a couple from the sidewalk in front of the house. In this one I managed to capture a lightning bolt. Can your see it? I am surprised it looks as good as it does seeing how this was shot at 22mm. The better image was a little bit later when the base was almost directly overhead...

I thought I might get a night off from the pond but nooooooooooo. The latest system pulled out right around sunset. Looking north east when I got out there... Local sunset... A lot of orange... The little bit of red that the atmosphere gave me...

Was not sure what the evening would bring for a sunset but I had to be out there, just in case. When I got out to the pond. Could see that clearing to the far west. Thought maybe it could do something if I got lucky... While waiting on the Sun to go down, here is a view to the south. You can see the building of moisture in that direction... I did get lucky post sunset and the sky lit up...

A system coming out of the Gulf, giving me the northern edge of clouds but leaving the west open to allow me to have post sunset light, is a great way to have a colorful sunset. Local sunset and white clouds... Orange clouds... And red clouds...

Race Day in Indiana. The unofficial start of summer in these parts. The sunset was not too shabby this year also. Looking north east when I got to the pond... The beginning of the post sunset color. Does it look hot and humid? It was... Best color dynamics... Best extent of color...

A great way to start off the holiday weekend. With a little bit of clouds and a little bit of color. When I first got to the pond... As you can see in this south east view, someone is getting rain. It just isn't me, again... A little bit of red sneaking in under the cloud bank... Looks like someone left open the door to the kiln … I thought maybe that was going to be it for color. Glad I stuck around a little bit more. The max red was vivid and filling of the 16-35mm even wide open...

Last night I had the color, but not the clouds. Tonight I had the clouds but not the color. But seeing how I still got another night at the pond, everything is great and fantastic.

Same Bat Place, Same Bat Channel... Local sunset. There was some cirrus way, way up there... I kept hoping that cirrus would take off and really turn red but this was the best it would do... Best color was super late with the 100mm. I like the red to blue graduation but especially the green tinge...

My love affair with sunset clouds continued this evening. Local sunset... The yellow with a faint sun pillar... Orange turning to red. Looks like a dolphin after a frog or baitfish on the right side... Way past the best but I like the subtle colors. And there always be another sunset, soonest...

Back Home Again in Indiana, at the pond where I belong... With the 16-35mm and a sun dog on the right also some crepuscular rays on the left... With the 24-70mm around local sunset... Back with the 16-35mm for the post sunset color...