Not All Sunsets are Glorious. What to do?

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This image was created on 16 August 2023 at Nickerson Beach, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 225mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the Thumb Dial at +2 stops; AUTO ISO set ISO 2500: 1/125 sec. at f/5.6 (wide-open at that focal length) in Shutter Priority Mode. AWB at 7:47:37pm, just four minutes before sunset. With a large cloud in the western sky. RawDigger showed the exposure to be perfect. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird/Face-Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Common Tern flock in flight with a single Laughing Gull and a bit of pink sky

Not All Sunsets are Glorious. What to do?

When the western sky is painted with an almost surreal arrays of reds, yellows, oranges, and purple, it is fairly easy to create some dramatic images or flying birds (if you are so blessed). On cloudy afternoons, many photographers give up too early, at the first sign of a cloud in the western sky. Seeing a narrow strip of light sky below the big, bad, dark cloud, I opted to stick around and see what developed.

When a small strip of color developed, I said a short prayer asking for a blastoff in just the right spot. A flock of terns answered my prayer but were a bit too high in the sky. I zoomed out a bit so as to include some pink sky in the lower right corner of the frame. The Laughing Gull with its wings stretched out nicely was a plus.

Tip

When there is not a whole lot of color in the sky, use a telephoto lens, keep your eye on the color, and pray for some birds to fly near or through it. And remember that if you head home early you ain’t gonna get nothin’ The double negatives are an attempt at humor.

This image was also created on 16 August 2023 at Nickerson Beach, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Again, standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 309mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the Thumb Dial at +2 stops; AUTO ISO set ISO 1600: 1/60 second at f/6.3 (wide-open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 7:48:28pm, three minutes before the time of sunset as a large cloud covered the sun in the western sky. RawDigger showed the exposure to be perfect. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird/Face-Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Black Skimmer in flight above strip of color

Less Than a Minute Later

Less than a minute later as I was hoping for another blastoff, a single skimmer flew back to the East Colony and by chance, went right through the strip of color. Lucky me. Heck, twice lucky.

Multiple Choice/Fill-in

A- I like Image #1 best because …
B- I like Image #2 best because …
C- I do not like either image because …
D- I love both images because …

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.