5 Minutes in Nature: Always something new

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I do have something of a New Year tradition. One of my first pictures of the year is typically from the waterfront a half dozen miles from my home.

The evolution of Ruby Portal

When I’m working in the field, even when I have a very good idea of how exactly I want my picture to turn out, I may go through a dozen or so takes to ensure the image I captured expresses exactly what I’m after. If I’ve become captivated by something unexpected, I may go through a hundred or more.

The image that I’m calling Ruby Portal, shown above, was the product of the latter approach. I was on the Pacific coast in the Olympic Wilderness of Washington state where wildfire haze was giving the setting sun a striking color. I wasn’t sure how everything would turn out.

For a while, it appeared the sun might quickly sink behind a layer of clouds, so as I took each photo, I thought there was a chance it might be my last of the day. The final image is the product of about an hour of exploration and revision. I thought it might be of interest to share that process with you.

Variations on a sunset

Look at a sky watcher’s chart and you will see sunset listed as a precise moment of time. I, however, prefer to think of it as an event — an event that can last hours.

There’s more to a sunset than the instant when the sun slips below the horizon. Sometimes an hour before, the western sky can begin to turn golden. Puffy cumulus clouds that are low in the sky can go from being pure white to intense yellow.

The edge of a storm

Blue skies are fine for travel brochures, but my favorite landscape images have an element of drama. And they're captured at what I call the edge of a storm.

I'm not talking about anything as extreme as hurricanes or severe thunderstorms. Photographing right at the edge of an approaching rain storm or right as the storm is breaking up can give your landscapes extra punch. The dramatic red clouds of a passing storm can allow you to make a unique image even from a popular national park photo spot.

Dramatic sunsets: Two shows daily

If you're out photographing a sunset and you're not happy with what you get, you can try again. In a half hour.

For photography purposes, there are two sunsets every night. The sun actually sets below the horizon just once, but the dramatic golden color on mountains and clouds happens twice.

A sunset without the sunset

The sunset last night was absolutely incredible — one of the most dramatic I've seen in a while. I had a feeling early on that it was going to be good. I noticed thin wispy clouds high in the sky early in the afternoon and made plans to be down by the water at sunset in case the sky lit up.

To wait or not to wait

It is a question every photographer faces: Do I wait for the clouds to part?

It’s never an easy question to answer.