Tag Archives: Winter

Destination, Drone, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

SUNRISE – BAY CITY, WI

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SUNRISE – BAY CITY, WI

After consulting The Photographer’s Ephemeris and Skyfire app it appeared as though there would be a great chance for some color at sunrise this morning at one of my favorite locations – Bay City.

While driving from Red Wing to Bay City, my optimism for color was not increasing.  When I arrived at the Bay City campground, there was a bit of color on the horizon out over the bay.

iPhone photo

As you can see from the above photo, the cloud cover was dominating the scene.  Even though it was in the single digits and quite cold, I stuck around.  Clouds can shift and conditions can change rapidly.  I capture three different [mostly gray] panorama via my drone.Bay City Sunrise

Bay City Sunrise

Bay City Sunrise

I am always fascinated by the patterns in the snow and ice.
Bay City Sunrise

It didn’t look like the sunrise was going to amount to much.  I put my drone away, but hung around a little longer.  The sun tried a bit more to break through, but didn’t really completely.  I took a couple photos with my iPhone and then there was nothing but gray.

Bay City Sunrise
iPhone photo
Bay City Sunrise
iPhone photo

How Skyfire app works

skyfireSkyfire forecasts are displayed as a map overlay with varying colors to indicate the type of conditions and forecast probability of a colorful sunrise or sunset. Colorful conditions arise when there are clouds in the sky that are underlit by the sun when it is near the horizon.

Although it is possible to see colorful clear skies, these colors are typically associated with twilight conditions (such as the ‘Belt of Venus’ or the deep blue/orange colors of nautical twilight). Skyfire forecasts do not cover these phenomena.

Clear skies, that is, where there are expected to be no clouds to underlight, are not assigned a color. Cloudy, overcast conditions, where the extent of the clouds precludes the chance for underlighting, are shown as white.

When cloud cover is broken, or lies at the edge of a weather front, there is a chance of colorful underlighting. The probability of a colorful sunrise or sunset developing is indicated on a color spectrum ranging from blue/green to red, where the redder the color, the higher the probability, as shown in the table below:

Clear Clear skies forecast
Cloudy Overcast, with little chance of underlighting
50% (blue) Clouds with some chance of underlighting
70% (yellow) Clouds with a good chance of underlighting
90% (red) Clouds with a high chance of underlighting

Views: 267

Drone, Panorama, Photography

NOT MUCH OF A SUNRISE – Bay City, WI #sunrise

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NOT MUCH OF A SUNRISE

This morning was pretty dull.  There was not much of sunrise at all.  The color was small and brief on the horizon.  So brief I almost missed it prepping the drone for flight.  I was happy to be out anyway with the possibility of another foot of snow coming tomorrow.

NOT MUCH OF A SUNRISE

I barely drained the a battery getting this shot so captured a bit more of the town I grew up in the first 4 years of my life; a town I spend many sunrises in annually.  These bluff lands are a beautiful area.  It’s hard to imagine living anywhere else…ur…um, except this time of year.  I could picture myself living all kinds of places.  This winter needs to end.

NOT MUCH OF A SUNRISE
360 Sphere

Views: 225

Panorama, Photography

SO COLD IT HURTS SUNRISE – Bay City, WI #sunrise

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SO COLD IT HURTS SUNRISE

When I arrived at Bay City Campground this a.m. if was -23F.  It’s that type of weather that is so cold it hurts.   The parking lots was plowed nicely.  The snow on the beach was quite deep and over the height of my boots.

I tried to leave the camera outside on the tripod, but the batteries went dead in minutes in the extreme cold.  I sat in the car with the heated seat on high and dashed out periodically to take some shots.  It took more time to scarf and glove-up than it did to quickly dash out, snap a few frames and head back to the car before the sting of the cold became unbearable.

The clouds and steam turned out in abundance this a.m.  It was another beautiful Bay City sunrise scene.

Views: 249

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes, Time-lapse

HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE – Bay City, WI #sunrise

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HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE

The huge temperature swing was refreshing this morning.  No crazy sub-zero temps or windchill’s to contend with.  Instead, we were in for a hazy February sunrise.

The crescent moon just above the horizon upon arrival was an unanticipated bonus.

HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE

Jupiter and Venus where still shining bright as were quite a few stars.  It was a spectacular site.

HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE

The sunrise sequence was filled with a lot of color and wonderful clouds.

Begin Rise
Rising more
Rissen

Pre-sunrise time lapse

Sunrise time lapse

http://https://youtu.be/LHuu6dX5c6E

Drone Photos

Vertical Panoramas

Horizontal Panoramas

HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE

HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE

HAZY FEBRUARY SUNRISE

Drone Video

Views: 330

Nature, Panorama, Photography, Time-lapse

BRRR-B-B-BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE (-19F) – Bay City, WI #sunrise

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BRRR-B-B-BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE (-19F)

I didn’t sleep in this morning.  The weather forecast was good as was the Photographer’s Ephemeris Skyfire sunrise prediction.  It was a titch chilly, but with a hot cup of Caribou and the proper clothing, this wasn’t going to be a big deal.  It was a Brrr-b-b-beautiful sunrise.  The pre-sunrise color was spectacular.

BRRR-B-B-BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE (-19F)
23 Frame D700 Pano
BRRR-B-B-BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE (-19F)
25 Frame D700 Pano

The sunrise wasn’t too bad either.

At 16mm

At 150mm

Beautiful morning all-the-way-around.

Extra

A short time lapse of the sunrise and steam this morning

Views: 170

Nature, Photography

GO ANYWAY – Don’t trust a forecast #sunrise

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GO ANYWAY

I know better.  When in doubt…go anyway.  Even in sub-zero weather.  You can always go back home.

This last Friday I looked at the forecast and figured I should pass based on the cloudy forecast and pending snow.  The Photographer’s Ephemeris  Skyfire, however, was predicting a good sunrise.

Weather Underground
Photographer’s Ephemeris  Skyfire

I elected to sleep in.  By the time I woke up and looked outside it way beyond sunrise and it looked like I missed a good one despite the forecast.

By the time I reached Bay City, the snow clouds were moving in and the sun was barely visible.

GO ANYWAY
Bay City
GO ANYWAY
Bay City

I drove to Maiden Rock to see how the ice looked there.  The ice heaves are nothing closed to what they have been in years past.  I stopped by the Warrentown Coulee Wayside before Maiden Rock to capture the wide-open vastness from that location.

GO ANYWAY
Warrentown Coulee Wayside
GO ANYWAY
Maiden Rock

Lots of ice fisher people.  The clouds were closing in and the light fading fast.  It didn’t take long for the sun to disappear altogether.  By the time I arrived back at Bay City is was almost a complete white-out.

GO ANYWHERE
Bay City
GO ANYWAY
Bay City

 

Views: 147

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, Steam-scapes

PINE CREEK – Maiden Rock, WI #aerialphotography

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PINE CREEK

After shooting sunrise in Bay City Friday morning  and heading further down river to Maiden Rock chasing the sunrise, I went to a favorite spot of mine close by to explore it from a whole new perspective.   I have many fond memories of Pine Creek as child.  There was a pretty amazing restoration project in this area and the recreation area open to the public is very nice.  Here is an article about the Pine Creek Project from August 2018.

PINE CREEK
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/2.8| 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 5 Frames
PINE CREEK
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/2.8| 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames

The views directly overhead were pretty great.  Love capturing this new point of view.

 

 

Views: 222

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

RISING SUN – Maiden Rock, WI #sunrise

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RISING SUN

After shooting sunrise in Bay City Friday morning, I headed further down river to Maiden Rock.  I made it there just in time to see the sun rising over the bluffs.  The sunlight warmed up the blue-cold landscape instantly creating a lovely scene.

RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro | ISO 100 | f/5 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm

Maiden Rock Panoramas

RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/5 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames
RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro | ISO 100 | f/4.5 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames
RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/3.2 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 5 Frames
RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/3.2 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 8 Frames

The ice is pretty fascinating as seen from above.

Ice
Ice
Ice
Downtown Maiden Rock

 

Views: 134

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR – Lake City, MN #sunset

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ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR

Having had so much fun this a.m. shooting sunrise, I decided to head out this afternoon and see what I could do with the afternoon golden hour.  I brought the best wife ever along so she could see how much fun this is.  Here she is standing next to me for a selfie.

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/20 seconds | 10.26 mm

The light was wonderful.  The limestone faces of the bluffs on the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin glowed orange as the sun went down.

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm

Panoramas

The practice continues on drone panorama photography.  It’s all completely manual at this point as I have not delved into the automated features of the Mavic 2 Pro.

The wayside rest next to Hansen’s Harbor between Frontenac and Lake City was an interesting location.  I was a nice wide open expanse to practice flying around.  The ice on the lake was very interesting, colorful and full of texture.

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames
ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 11 Frames
ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames

A few more single shots

 

Views: 211

Photography, Time-lapse

BLUFF TOP CLOUDY SUNSET – Hager City, WI #timelapse

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BLUFF TOP CLOUDY SUNSET

I was a bit late getting home from work and was not so quick to change and load up my photo gear.  The sunset forecast for this evening was not great; however the weather was so nice  (40+ degrees on the 18th of December). I decided to venture out anyway.

I didn’t have enough time to get where I wanted to.  Alternatively I found a n area on top of a bluff along a road with an area of wide-open space.   If I wasn’t going to see an resemblance of a sunset, it could be viewed from here.

When the conditions are not necessarily what you are hoping for in a typical sunset, there are options.  Abundant clouds in motion are perfect for time-lapse.  I only wish I had gotten there sooner and had more time.  Just under and hour of shooting yielded 5 whole seconds of video.

I used the Syrp Genie Mini Camera Motion Control – Wireless to achieve the rotation.  An excellent way to introduce motion into your time-lapse sequences.

[Very] Brief Time-lapse

Views: 174