Bay City Beauty – I never tire of the beauty of this shoreline, this bay, the bluffs and the sunrises that happen here. Another work gone and an early morning spent marveling at the palette of colors mother nature painted the sky with today.
D700 ISO 200 | f/10 | 4 seconds | 16 mm
D700 ISO 200 | f/10 | 1 seconds | 16 mm
D700 ISO 200 | f/10 | 1/160 seconds | 16 mm
It was also another opportunity to practice drone photography. I’ve always leaned toward portrait orientation in my photography, but I am really liking the result of the vertical [portrait orientation] panoramic images from the drone.
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/6.3 | 1/25 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames
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.
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.
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.
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 FramesMavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 11 FramesMavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames
When I arrived at my favorite sunrise location this a.m. the sky was quite clear; so clear that you could see Jupiter (bottom) and Venus (top) easily next to the silhouette of the tree.
D700 ISO 200 | f/7.1 | 25 seconds | 17 mm
January starts out with Venus shining above Jupiter in the morning sky, yet the month ends with Jupiter shining above Venus. Day by day, Jupiter climbs upward, away from the sunrise, while Venus sinks downward, toward the rising sun. The two will meet for a conjunction in the morning sky on January 22, 2019. ~EarthSky.org
As the morning progressed the clouds cooperated wonderfully even though a completely clear sky was in the forecast for this morning. This morning started out like most other mornings at this particular location, but the situation changed dramatically. The new perspective is courtesy of a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone I received for Christmas from the best wife ever.
I am pretty happy with the results given this was my third flight and first ever attempt at shooting the sunrise with a drone. The shots are a titch grainy given ISO 400 . The vertical panorama is my favorite drone photo of the day. This morning without a doubt spawned an enthusiasm for drone photography that will not likely subside any time soon.
Horizontal Panorama
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 400 | f/9 | 1/60 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames
Vertical Panorama
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 400 | f/9 | 1/60 seconds | 10.26 mm | 12 Frames
I am finding that even though I am not experiencing ideal conditions for sunrise, nature always provides a beautiful canvas. When the pre-sunrise color isn’t there, the subtly of the clouds provides a focal point. The waning crescent moon was also shining bright this morning and added a nice touch to the frame.
EXTRA
On the drive home I ran into a herd of Wild Turkeys.
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.
A landscape photographers constant wish is just the right amount of clouds to make the scene interesting. When that happens, consider yourself fortunate. Today was not one of those days. The scene that can unfold can still be beautiful…if you wait for it. The skies could not have been any more clear or bright.
Just like sunrises with the best color coming before hand, so goes sunsets with rich color happening after the set.
It took a few minutes after sunset for the color to change and pop.
There is nothing quite like the the palette of color nature displays prior to the sun rising above the horizon. Pre-sunrise color can be quite spectacular; as was the case this morning.
Don’t forget to look all around before the sun comes up and the vivid color is gone.
iPhone pano
Once the sun broke the horizon the pinks/reds disappeared; the blue and yellow became more defined.
Post-sunrise.
A constant stream of ducks doing flybys pre-sunrise; if you look close enough you can see them in one of the shots. There were lots of geese honking. A single pair a swans swam close by. Two eagles chattered on and on in a nearby Cottonwood Tree. What a great morning and start to the day.
There was no sunshine at sunrise this a.m. I did catch a little bit of sun two hours after sunrise when it began to filter through the heavy fog and clouds.
