bowtie`

With the dryline edging closer to the area, I thought there might be some cloud shadows/crepuscular rays about this evening. First image of the night is all about the crepuscular rays. Taken with the 24-70mm at 43mm... It looked like there was a chance for a lane between some cells here. Taken with the 16-35mm at 23mm... A close up of the horizon and some mild cloud shadows. Taken with the 100mm... Beginning of the post sunset colors. Too bad the blues and oranges are both over-the-top. Taken with the 16-35mm at 27mm... Last image of the night was once the oranges had mostly calmed down. Taken with the 16-35mm at 25mm... Cheers!

Does it look like it is 86/72 with a poppin' Cu field?

Well it is official. Dinner is starting to intrude into the sunsets. I missed a decent one last night completely. Tonight, I made it out to the pond but it was late and I only got the post sunset color. So work days are going to be problematic from now on. Days off I can be a lot more flexible with my schedule. Only Two images this evening. First one is towards the southeast. Taken with the 24-70mm at 54mm... Last one is towards the southwest. Taken with the 24-70mm at 55mm....

And now for something completely different. A sunrise. There was a tiny complex just to my northeast this morning. I happened to get up in time to see if I could get any pre-sunrise color on the flanks of the cells. Turns out I could but just barely. Cool to have color in the sky when it is still dark on the ground. Taken with the 24-70mm at 57mm... Right at local sunrise with a nice cloud shadow. Taken with the 100mm... An overview once the Sun was up. Notice you can hardly see the cells anymore. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... Last image before the Sun came out for good and started the daily shake-n-bake. Taken with the 100mm...

I made a tactical error this evening. I just assumed the convection in Illinois was going to dampen any sunset stuff here so after dinner I was working in the yard pulling crabgrass. When I looked over my shoulder I happened to see a wild yellow flash on-going. So I ran inside grabbed the camera and quickly dashed to the municipal lot a couple of blocks away. The only pasted-prime yellow image I could get. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... The rest is just the on-the-horizon color. The yellows taken with the 100mm... The oranges taken with the 100mm... A vertical orientation taken with the 100mm... Cheers!

This evening was mostly about the crepuscular rays/cloud shadows. Had to have some smoke influence even though the majority of smoke was still off to the west. While it was a little warm and sticky around sunset, KIND was only reporting 87/67 so it was not all haze and humidity. The only *normal color was a look east as I got out to the pond. Taken with the 16-35mm at 26mm... The wildest rays/shadows was at this first look west. Taken with the 100mm... More of an overview post sunset. The blues are a little over-the-top but I did not feel like messing with them. Taken with the 16-35mm at 25mm... If the colors of the last are off-putting to you, here is a B & W rendering of the same file... Cheers!

But of course the boundary came through dry here today. On the plus side, it timed out perfect for some gorgeous sunset colors. The yellows and start of the orange post sunset. Taken with the 16-35mm at 20mm... And when the red fired up, it turned spectacular. Taken with the 16-35mm at 27mm... And for those of you that like the cell-phone/vertical orientation. Taken with the 16-35mm at 30mm... Good night my darlin', where ever you are...

After a spot of rain while I was at dinner, which timed out just perfect, I was able to catch the remnant clouds during sunset. Looking to the east when I got out to the pond. Taken with the 16-35mm at 29mm... First look to the west. Taken with the 16-35mm at 30mm... Some Freddie Krueger finger cloud shadows here at the top of this image. Taken with the 16-35mm at 31mm... Last image of the night is to the northwest and the tops of some cells to the north of me. There is a diffuse cloud shadow in the middle of the color but I kind of like the way it mutes some of the excess color. Taken with the 100mm... Cheers!

Tonight sort of looked like last night. Rinse and repeat. A look west when I got out to the pond. Taken with the 16-35mm at 17mm... That cell was going to float by just to my north. So the post sunset color as all to the southwest. Taken with the 16-35mm at 27mm...

Plenty of clouds this evening. Looking east when I got out there. some of the low-topped convection in the area. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... The view to the west has some nice cirrus. Taken with the 16-35mm at 17mm... This probably should be in a severe thread but I am going to keep it here. Some tails looking south at some cells heading in this general direction. This took a lot of messing around and feathering the GND filter to make it look right. Think I came close, only the bottom of the black tail went a little funky. Still about as close to actual as I could get. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... Best color of the night came with this vertical view to the west as the convection clouds were edging into the view. Taken with the 16-35mm at 16mm...

Going to document how the loss of day time heating affects cloud loss at the end of the day. When I got to the pond. From the fisherman's point looking south. Taken with the 16-35mm at 16mm... Looking west from the fisherman's point. Taken with the 16-35mm at 17mm... I moved down to the southern side of the pond here. Taken with the 16-35mm at 23mm... Not much later and hey! Where are the clouds going? Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... About sunset and nothing left but the smoke being carried north from Oklahoma on the jet. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm...

Today as about edge dynamics. The disturbance that rode up the frontal boundary to the south of me invaded the area. Was close no clouds/ solid clouds all day long. Started off with a mid-day image. as mowing the yard and noticed the cirrus heading north. So I stopped, grabbed the camera and threw it up in the yard for a quick shot. Taken with the 16-35mm at 25mm... First image out at the pond after dinner. You can see how close the open sky is. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... As the Sun is about to di into the trees. It is a little dark and a bit overboard with the contrast, but that is all on purpose to keep the colors as close to right as I could get them. Taken with the 100mm... Here comes the post sunset color. The blueing from the clouds is a little over the top but it is what it is. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... A close up of the color on the horizon. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... Last image as the red began retreating. I am kind of proud of this image. The color is about as spot-on as I could get. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... Good night my darlin', where ever you are...

Yes, these are my kind of cold fronts. I feel great when the post frontal high temps is 84 degrees. Bring It!

Tonight exceeded my expectations. I kind of figured the dry air would win and there would be a dearth of clouds. Instead there as a nice variety of cloud types and heights which led to some nice colors. Starting with the beginning of the post sunset. Looking west and taken with the 24-70mm at 57mm... Next up is a look to the southeast and some nice colors marching across the sky. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... This one is odd in that it is taken literally straight up. Could not get the tripod to that high an elevation so I just handheld the camera and tripod. The way the colors vary in the cloud looked really cool to me. As usual everyone see something different in cloud formations but to me this looks like a screaming eagle blasting it's way to the ground. Taken with the 16-35mm at 16mm... Back for a look to the west again with some spotty orange and faint red. Taken with the 24-70mm at 51mm... Last image of the night is the cherry red in the southwestern sky. Taken with the 24-70mm at 30mm... Good Night my darlin', where ever you are...

The local anti-rain force field is still holding strong over the house. One county west and one county north had 1"+ amount today but my tippy bucket only had 0.07 in it. Guess the flowers will have to be watered tomorrow.

Tonight I kind of dallied around during dinner and ended up getting home a little bit later. Had a little bit of color in the sky so I just plopped the camera don on the sidewalk in front of the house. So you will have to bear with the trees, building and wire. Starting out with the low clouds starting to go red. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... Here the cirrus in the background started going orange, hard. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... And now the distant cirrus was leaning to cherry red. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... Cheers!

The line formed just south of I-70. Best rain was south of Indianapolis with the storms. Only 0.05" in my tippy bucket of just stratiform rain. Still parched here. Maybe tomorrow?

Figured I would sweat to the murkies at the sunset tonight. As usual the smoky murk makes the sunsets look all the same. Taken with the 100mm... Going to skip to the late post sunset. Had some vivid cloud shadows from over the horizon. I think it was from the cells popping up in western Illinois just ahead of the main unzipping in Iowa and Wisconsin. Do not quote me on that though. The shadow was extremely noticeable when it started. Taken with the 16-35mm at 32mm... A bit later as the shadows got a little more overhead and just before all the light got cut-off. Taken with the 16-35mm at 18mm. And yes that is the moon in the far left of the image. Cheers!

Trouble is that every sunset starts looking the same. Not that that small detail is going to stop me though.

Only 92/75 at KIND. That is warm enough for me. Needed to use the umbrella as a personal shade device for my walk to the Post Office this afternoon.

More smoke this evening. Started off ith some white above the murkiness of the horizon. Taken with the 16-35mm at 27mm... Even the gold hour turns in the smoke murk mess. Taken with the 100mm... Last of the decent color for the evening. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm...

Only 0.01 in the tippy bucket this morning. Enough to wet the road but not enough to do the flowers any good.

Have already lost 25 minutes of the sunset since June 30th. I am starting to almost miss actually seeing the Sun if I eat dinner before heading out to the pond. Time marches along. An overview right after I arrived at the pond. Taken with the 16-35mm at 19mm... Here I forgot about the reflection and just concentrated on the clouds above the horizon. The better to show the faint cloud shadows going on. Taken with the 16-35mm at 32mm... Cheers!

Had plenty of clouds this evening. When I got to the pond. Taken with the 16-35mm at 28mm... A little more of a symetrical image. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... About as red as it was going to get. Taken with the 100mm... Cheers!

The only cloud I had during sunset was towards the south-southwest. The orange taken with the 24-70mm at 48mm... What little red there was. Taken with the 100mm...