Clouds are loved...

There are some subjects in photography that always make for an intriguing composition. In landscape photography, few subjects are as interesting as clouds. The fact that they come in various shapes, sizes and even colors is what makes them one of my favorite subjects to shoot.

Most people would look at a clear blue sky and exclaim "What a beautiful day!". For me though, a clear day is as boring as watching a game of golf. Whenever I'm outside, I'm always on the look for interesting cloud patterns. But the thing about photography is that light is the most important aspect in capturing great images, and the time of day you shoot can be the difference between an ordinary shoot and an extraordinary one.

I was never a morning person but considering that I couldn't bunk office like I used to bunk college, I've become a morning person ever since I started working. It was one such morning that I woke up reluctantly to get ready for work, when my wife excitedly asked me to look out of the window to see the spectacular cloud show. It was spectacular indeed, with the rising sun painting the sea of clouds with bright orange. I grabbed my camera, which was luckily fit with the right lens for this situation and ran to the front patio to capture this event before the show ends. I managed to get a few satisfactory shots in the few minutes I had, before the colors gradually faded away.

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 24 mm, f/11, HDR merge of 3 exposures (1/25, 1/50, 1/13 sec)

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 18 mm, f/11, HDR merge of 3 exposures (1/25, 1/35, 1/6 sec)

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 44 mm,  f/11, 1/30 sec

Here are a couple more shots of similar cloud shows I captured in Fremont and San Francisco respectively.

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 320, 135 mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 640, 95 mm, f/4.5, 1/160 sec 

After years of drought in California, the rain gods showed mercy and we have seen good rains this year. The mountains have turned green in spring and with some morning rains, the stage is always set for an early morning photo session.

My go-to place for landscapes is a small, rural town called Sunol, close to Fremont which is known for its historic railroad. With rain clouds hovering over the skies, I set out to Sunol to get some morning shots. As I was driving to the place, there were quite a few places where I wanted to stop and start clicking but it's never easy here to stop wherever you want, especially with cops that seem omnipresent. The traffic also seemed surprisingly high for the small single lane road, which I guess was inundated by the early morning office-goers trying to avoid the freeway.
I finally managed to find a small roadside shop where I could park and get going with my early morning adventure. A lone tree amidst the green field, with the back drop of gloomy sky was what I ended up clicking, with clouds playing a supporting role in the motionless pictures.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 320, 67 mm, HDR merge of 3 exposures (1/320, 1/160, 1/80 sec)

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 320, 105 mm, f/11, 1/320 sec

Signing off this post with some of the cloudy images I captured during a hike at the San Ramon hills. So, the next time you head out or peek out of your window, look up at the heavens, as you never know what's up there.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 320, 98 mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 55 mm, f/4, 1/8000 sec

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 40 mm, f/11, 1/320 sec

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 35 mm, 40, f/11, 1/800 sec

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 60 mm, f/11, HDR merge of 3 exposures (1/200, 1/400, 1/800 sec)

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 65 mm, f/11, Pano merge of 6 exposures 

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec)

Let there be Light... house

I had been yearning to shoot a sunset/sunrise at a lighthouse for quite sometime. I have been to the Point Reyes lighthouse which is up north from where I live, but the place is crowded most of the time, and the time of day I visited there wasn't ideal for any good clicks.

So this time, I decided to specifically reach a lighthouse location for sunset so that I can get some colors in the sky and hopefully not a large crowd. After searching for "lighthouses" on Yelp, the Santa Cruz Harbor Walton Lighthouse seemed like a good place to explore.

It was the last day of Daylight Saving and the sun was set to set at 6:12 pm. After packing our camera equipment, my wife and I started our 45 mile journey towards our destination. The drive was fairly uneventful except for an accident on I880 south (in the opposite direction to our drive), where a vehicle was completely overturned by impact! 😮  The traffic going north had slowed down due to rubbernecking by most of the drivers. Hoping that the people involved in the accident were safe, while discussing as to how it could be possible for it to overturn on a one-way road, we continued onward.

After an hour's drive, we reached the place with sufficient time to explore the place before sunset. The base of the lighthouse wasn't accessible by car and we had to enquire around to find out how to access it by foot. After scouting around the place shooting some portraits, we headed towards the lighthouse which was a good 1 mile hike. The walk was along the Santa Cruz harbor and we started clicking interesting subjects we found on the way.

Dandelion clicked by Anisha

As we got closer to the base of the lighthouse, my wife, Anisha, brought to my attention a flock of birds perched on the rocks at the side of the pathway. I quickly attached my telephotos lens to the camera and got some shots.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec

As I was shooting getting low on the ground, an elderly gentleman patted my back and asked "What type of birds are those?" to which I smiled and replied "Frankly sir, I have no idea". He laughed and said "I thought you were an expert!" and walked away. I realized that an SLR with a long lens makes anyone look like an expert. 😀

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec

The birds were fairly brave as they didn't fly away spotting my ominous lens and I managed to get some decent shots with the waves providing an interesting backdrop. A rule of composition I learnt recently was that having odd number of subjects in your shots makes the image more appealing. On a related note, I also read somewhere that most people like the volume level in their TVs set to an even number. 😃

After scouting for a few locations to get a good framing, I set down my tripod on one side of the pathway, over the rocks and started taking some test shots before the light would fade away. Anisha in the meanwhile, got some wonderful shots on her iphone 7.

Shot by Anisha on iPhone 7 

One of the compositions I had in mind was a vertical frame with the line of rocks in the foreground leading your eye to the lighthouse. Using an ND 3.0 filter to smoothen the water and get some movement in the clouds, I managed to get a few shots that I wanted.

 

Shot by Anisha on iPhone  7

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 29 mm, f/11, 25 sec

As I was almost done taking these shots, Anisha suggested I come to the other side of the beach to get a different viewpoint of the lighthouse. The sun was inching down the horizon, as I scampered to the other side to see if I can get some good shots. The light was getting lesser by the minute, and the sky was changing its color. I setup my tripod and decided to take a few more long exposures. I did get distracted by a curious, beautiful doggo running on the beach who came up to me to see what good I was up to. His owner shouted at him to step back apologizing for his behavior. 😃 

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 31 mm, f/29, 3.2 sec

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 53 mm, f/11, 111 sec

The rising moon also caught my eye as the sun was almost down the horizon and the foreground of the rocks made for an interesting composition.

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 120 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec

We headed back home after sunset, the drive back taking almost twice the time we took to reach the place, thanks to the ever increasing traffic in the bay area. 

Until next time...