Winter Morning Sunrise - Sky Watch Friday

"Welcome to Winter!"
Sunrise on a cold, clear morning
Sky Watch Friday

We're really into Winter here in Australia. The sun isn't rising now until about 6:20am, which means that I'll often get up when it's still dark. This is great for capturing sunrises, although it's not too conducive to getting out of bed!

Another benefit of capturing sunrises during Winter is that the atmosphere is usually very clear. Often when the sun comes up there will be no clouds or haze in the sky, just a clear, cold morning. Of course, this means that the sunrise will look very different, and it is sometimes harder to get a good sunrise without any clouds. I'm hoping to wake up early enough one of these days to get the sun rising over the valley - landscape shots tend to work best on clear mornings.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

"It was a dark and stormy night..." - SWF

"It was a dark and stormy night..."
Trees silhouetted by the purple
clouds, with lightning back-lighting
Sky Watch Friday

I know, you've probably heard that title too many times already. It's one of the most under-rated and over-quoted verses in history. But I couldn't think of a better title for this picture, which was taken late one stormy night. The trees are back-lit by a flash of lightning, fading out as it reaches the top of the picture to reveal the dark storm clouds.

You might also have noticed something familiar about these trees. Yep, you guessed it, this is the same easterly viewpoint seen in many other photos. Somehow, whenever there's an interesting sky around, it has to sit behind these trees. All I can really do is change the angle!

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Glowing Orange Sunrise (Silhouette) - Sky Watch Friday

"Don't worry about the future...."
Sky glowing orange as the sun rises
Sky Watch Friday

On Wednesday I got up around 6am, just before the sun rose, and was able to capture this shot. Once again, this sunrise is different from all my previous shots. Watching the sun rise helped me to stop and forget all my worries of the future, just take a moment to relax and enjoy the present. I hope you can also take some time one day soon to watch the sun rise. Each one is different, so you'll be guaranteed of a fresh show every day.

This Sky Watch Friday photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Thunder and Lightning! Strike at Night

"Thunder and Lightning!"
Lightning striking in a thunder storm at night
Sky Watch Friday

Wow! That's what I thought when I saw this lightning bolt strike last night. We had a thunder storm here (fairly rare, I might add) and so I went out, like I did during our last lightning storm, in the cold and wet, to get some lightning photos. The noise of this particular strike nearly deafened me! It struck less than 1km away, so the thunder came almost instantaneously.

I took this picture on "B" shutter mode with about a 20-second exposure at F6.4. The lightning you see in the picture is actually the result of two strikes - one huge lightning strike (the large ball of white lightning on the left), and another smaller one almost directly after.

Because of the long exposure, and the brightness of the lightning, I had to use the GIMP to adjust the saturation curve for this image to make the lightning bolts visible. But I can assure you it isn't "touched up" in the common sense of the word - this is exactly what it looked like in real life! Even though I only saw the lightning for a second, I can still see the strike as if it was right in front of me now. And I can hear the thunder just as clearly - it was the sort of sound that's so loud and deep that you can feel it as much as hear it!

This Thunder-bolt Sky Watch Friday photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Cumulonimbus Storm Cloud - Thor's Masterpiece

"Thor's Masterpiece"
Cumulonimbus Thunder Storm Cloud at Sunset
Sky Watch Friday

I found this storm cloud photo as I was going through my archives searching for images to enter in an upcoming photographic competition. The huge Cumulonimbus cloud is lit up a light pink colour by the setting sun, while the horizon below is silhouetted against the threatening dark blue clouds around the base of the thunder-head.

This photo was taken in Goondiwindi, Queensland. When I entered it into the Goondiwindi Photo Competition, I titled it "Thor's Masterpiece".

Original post: Cumulonimbus Storm Cloud
This Sky Watch Friday photo taken with the Kodak C330 digital camera.

Palm Trees and Moon - Sky Watch Friday

"Tropical Twilight" - Moon through palm trees
Sky Watch Friday

This is one of my older photos, taken in 2006 with the Kodak camera. I was experimenting with taking moon photos, and tried out this framing technique with the palm trees silhouetted against the twilight sky, and the fronds reaching from the top of the picture downwards to the moon. I think it turned out fairly well, although the moon is quite small due to the minute 3x zoom offered by the Kodak camera.

You can just see the colours of the setting sun reflecting off the top of the palm trees.

Update: Tom and other readers pointed out that you can actually see a face in this picture - look at the curve of the tree on the left for a nose, and the moon becomes an eye. Thanks Tom!

Original URL: http://davids-pics.blogspot.com/2007/05/tropical-twilight.html
This Sky Watch Friday photo taken with the Kodak C330 digital camera.

A New Day - Wordless Wednesday

"A New Day"
Wordless Wednesday

This Wordless Wednesday photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Purple-red Clouds at Sunset - Sky Watch Friday

Deep purple and red Sunset looking over the city

Last Sky Watch Friday, just after I put my post up, I went out to listen to a presentation on the Australian Navy. When I was walking in the door I noticed this brilliant sunset lighting up the sky. I happened to have my camera with me, so I was able to snap a few shots. I didn't have a tripod with me and I used about 250mm lens so I had to bring up the ISO a bit to get a clear picture.

Purple clouds at sunset

By the time I got home from the presentation last Friday it was too late to post these shots, so I'm sharing them today as the Sky Watch for the week.

This Sky Watch Friday photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Moon behind a Tree - Sky Watch Friday

Full Moon behind a Tree (Eucalyptus)
Sky Watch Friday

For some reason, whenever it came around to Sky Watch Friday, I automatically thought of a day-time sky. It never occurred to me until now that a moon landscape is actually a "Sky Watch" photo as well! So, today I have this photo I took the other night of a full Moon behind my gum tree (see my other moon / tree silhouette). I find the layer of cloud interesting in this picture - it serves to split the picture into two parts horizontally, while the tree splits the picture vertically. Not exactly the rule of thirds - maybe more like the rule of fourths!

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Brilliant Red Sunrise - Sky Watch Friday

Brilliant Red Sunrise - Sky Watch Friday

For my second Sky Watch Friday, I'm posting a sunrise. This is one of the most popular landscapes for photographers and painters alike, but this does not seem to detract from the impressiveness of the scene in every new photo I see. Somehow each sunrise has a unique "flavour" to it which gives it a renewed meaning each time it is interpreted by a different artist.

One of the unique aspects of this sunrise is the silhouette formed by the gum trees in the foreground. This is a typical Australian scene, and anyone who's lived in the country for long gets to know and love this early morning symbol.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.