Urban Sunset

[abraxas]

f38
1/8 sec
iso 100

 

[LaFoto]

Not overly much "urbanity" to be seen here - cool!
You made good use of what is normally so distracting in photos, i.e. the powerline! And the sunset looks very orange. Nice!
But you are not where the sandstorm raged, are you?
This isn't the effect of it?
(We had it on our news!)

 

[abraxas]

Not overly much "urbanity" to be seen here - cool!
You made good use of what is normally so distracting in photos, i.e. the powerline! And the sunset looks very orange. Nice!
But you are not where the sandstorm raged, are you?
This isn't the effect of it?
(We had it on our news!)

I figured if I got the powerpole in there I could post in General -

I'm finding it harder all the time to deal with the 'urb.' Don't watch the news that much; either the sky is falling, skinny chicks are going in and out of jail or they're trying to guess who some kid's father is. If the sky is falling, I'd rather be out in it watching all the running and screaming. There was a sandstorm?

It was dusty from the usual wind at El Mirage dry lake. I took my grandson (14) out to teach him to drive a stick shift. I told him we were looking for mirages and dust devils (dirt tornadoes). He probably drove 40 miles chaufering me back and forth across the playa. Not hot enough though. Cracks me up, he thought we were leaving without me shooting anything.

Thanks for the comment. I like the shot, with the exception of [edit]sensor spot healing and[/edit] a tiny bit of sharpening on the reduced size, it's right out of the can.

 

[LaFoto]

That sandstorm was in Arizona - the Phoenix area.
You are in ... California?

 

[abraxas]

That sandstorm was in Arizona - the Phoenix area.
You are in ... California?

Hesperia, California- about 60 miles east of Los Angeles and then 30 miles north. Phoenix sounds like JTHPhoto's realm.

 

[LaFoto]

Ah. I see. Maybe he is still busy brushing out his house and things and dusting like crazy :shock: - it looked a FIERCE sandstorm in the pics we got to see on TV!

But we are both busy hijacking your own thread ............. :shock: sorry!

 

[abraxas]

Sounds like a mess. I'll have to check the newspaper.

Now, to continue letting this wonderful shot sink to the bottom.

 

[LaFoto]

OK, big promise: I'll come back early tomorrow morning (will be about 10 at night for you then, or even only just 9?) and write another nice comment, is that a deal . For right now it feels like it might be time for bed for me - a little early, at 10:30 p.m., but why not?

The sun, if I may report that to bring us back to this photo (via sunsets in general) did NOT set as nicely as it did when you saw this scene, though.

(Now how's that for a turn back into the right direction, heehee )

 

[abraxas]

OK, big promise: I'll come back early tomorrow morning (will be about 10 at night for you then, or even only just 9?) and write another nice comment, is that a deal . For right now it feels like it might be time for bed for me - a little early, at 10:30 p.m., but why not?

The sun, if I may report that to bring us back to this photo (via sunsets in general) did NOT set as nicely as it did when you saw this scene, though.

(Now how's that for a turn back into the right direction, heehee )

You're very cool. Good night.

 

[gtkelly]

Well thanks...

Another stunning 'Abraxas' that I now have to try and duplicate myself. I'll fail - again - drink myself into a stupor and wind up in a shelter somewhere. My kids will go hungry and I'll eventually get liver disease. All because of this picture...

Great...

Seriously - the colors you get are awesome. I can't even come close. And how you expose for the sky and not make the ground completely dark I have NO idea. Great composition too. I really like this one.

 

[LaFoto]

See, Walter?
I am not the only one to like this.
It is so nicely simple. Just two elements and voilà - they make for a good photo!
What I am still asking myself is this: what is the GROUND made of that we see here. It somehow looks wet. Muddy. But that can't be with the powerline pole standing there.... :scratch: ... maybe 6 in the morning is too early for me to understand (?)

 

[abraxas]

Well thanks...

Another stunning 'Abraxas' that I now have to try and duplicate myself. I'll fail - again - drink myself into a stupor and wind up in a shelter somewhere. My kids will go hungry and I'll eventually get liver disease. All because of this picture...

Great...

Seriously - the colors you get are awesome. I can't even come close. And how you expose for the sky and not make the ground completely dark I have NO idea. Great composition too. I really like this one.

Thank you! I exposed for the sun, but waited until it got down far enough not to fry my eyes looking through the little hole. I've been seeing some very nice direct sun sunset shots here and thought I'd give it a try. I think the reflective qualities of the surface of the lake bed gave it a little definition. I'm good with losing a lot of the detail because the ground is scarred up from all the off road vehicle tracks.

See, Walter?
I am not the only one to like this.
It is so nicely simple. Just two elements and voilà - they make for a good photo!
What I am still asking myself is this: what is the GROUND made of that we see here. It somehow looks wet. Muddy. But that can't be with the powerline pole standing there.... :scratch: ... maybe 6 in the morning is too early for me to understand (?)

Thanks again. I'm never sure when I do well- I think it has to do with knowing the details about what I shoot. My grandson doesn't care for the picture. He says, "The colors were deeper and more of them." I told him I was going to spend grocery money on a variable ND filter and he'd have to go without a few meals. He told me, "The colors were deeper and more of them."

The surface of El Mirage dry lake is composed of extremely fine, dense sediments. These nearly microscopic solids are suspended in rain water runoff from the mountains 15-20 miles away to the south. Since they are so fine they stay in the water as it spreads across the shallow basin and remain when the water evaporates. The sediments are 'caliche/clay' based and have chemical properties that bond them to similar material already on the lake bed. The sun bakes the sediments into a hard surface. I think of it like firing clay pottery. Being so fine, tightly packed and lacking porosity(?) the lake bed has reflective properities. Combined with atmospheric inversions(again ?) on a hot day, reflections of the sky can be clearly made out as well as reflections of nearby mountains and anything driving on the lake. It's pretty neat looking because the dust following land-yachts or motorcyles and whatever, looks like the rooster-tail following a ski boat in a wet lake. That's the mirage of El Mirage dry lake.

I wasn't going to do that ^. Sorry. :meh:

Of course all the above is from the lawnchair thoughts and undisciplined research of an avocationalist, and I just might not have a clue.

I showed the grand kid how to identify modern archaeological sites (camp sites) and roughly date them by glass and metal artifacts. I think we found a small meteorite (but now that I'm staring at it, well, maybe just a freak volcanic based rock). And I made him drive 45 miles an hour for 30 seconds- His little face; it was so pale.

 

[PatriK-b]

Really interesting how you use an element that we normally try to avoid in such a composition.
The powerline finishing in the upper right corner works nice.

Super shoot.

Btw, you stopped down to f/38 and I can't see any sensor dust. :er: that's black magic.

 

[abraxas]

Really interesting how you use an element that we normally try to avoid in such a composition.
The powerline finishing in the upper right corner works nice.

Super shoot.

Btw, you stopped down to f/38 and I can't see any sensor dust. :er: that's black magic.

Thanks and... er.. busted. Honestly, I just do the sensor spot healing automatically any more- have to. LaFoto busts me every time if I don't



-w