Don Smith Photography's Blog

Lit Cloud Over San Luis Reservoir

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 6 November 2009 in Landscape & Rural.

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On a recent jaunt to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks with friends Mike Hall and Scott Schilling, we drove over Pacheco Pass through the Diablo Mountain Range of central California at sunset and were treated to this lit stratus cloud hanging over the northeast side of the reservoir.

I remembered a turnout soon after Mike alerted me to the color on the cloud and within minutes we had tripods and cameras out and were able to capture a few frames before the light faded off the cloud.

Not much I can really say about this image other than serendipity has its moments!

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Comments (16)

john4jack from Corvallis, Oregon, United States

Absolutely gorgeous!

6 Nov 2009 5:37am

Didier DE ZAN from somewhere, France

Wonderful

6 Nov 2009 5:51am

Fred from Manila, Philippines

Wow! That is absolutely fantastic. I'm a very big cloud fan (registered member of the Cloud Appreciation Society) and truly, clouds in the sky make or break some of our photos. Another good job Don!

6 Nov 2009 6:12am

@Fred: Thanks Fred - is there really such a society?

Babzy from Besançon, France

wondreful clouds roads !

6 Nov 2009 7:40am

Tamara from Aarschot, Belgium

Wow Don... this is like a dream ! I have no words... a masterpiece !!! Marvelous job :)

6 Nov 2009 8:01am

@Tamara: Thanks Tamara for joining in!

zOOm from Paris, France

A WOW picture Don, as always ! Incredible sun colors and hint on this cloud, like a river. Superb.

6 Nov 2009 8:36am

@zOOm: Clouds always do seem symbolic of something, I just personally loved the V-shape.

Vitor Martins from Lisboa, Portugal

Fantastic composition that immediately caught the attention of my eyes. The sotness of the photo is great.

6 Nov 2009 9:23am

@Vitor Martins: Very much appreciated Vitor.

Judy from Brooksville, Florida, United States

So gorgeous and how wonderful that you had a turnout available. On a recent trip to the GA mountains, there were some good photo ops w/absolutely no place to get off the road to stop, which was disappointing.

6 Nov 2009 1:33pm

@Judy: That has happened many times to me also Judy; sometimes we just have to forget about our cameras and enjoy the moment.

Ralph Jones from Detroit, United States

Simply beautiful!

6 Nov 2009 1:37pm

Elora from Genoa, Italy

Looks like fire in the sky. Another fantastic image!

6 Nov 2009 2:50pm

Shahryar from Isfahan, Iran

superb.great shot:)

6 Nov 2009 3:04pm

Rags from Plano, United States

Pretty and amazing image.

6 Nov 2009 3:48pm

Fade ToBLACK from tehran, Iran

wooow amazing

6 Nov 2009 5:11pm

Mirza Ahmad from Thames Ditton, United Kingdom

Vivid reds.

7 Nov 2009 1:42am

Scott F. Schilling from San Martin, United States

Don, I like your composition and how you included the end of the lake on the right hand side! Wonderful colors and thanks for yelling stop!!

7 Nov 2009 6:24am

Fred from Manila, Philippines

Yes Don. There really is. I haven't seen them on the internet though, which is kind'ov weird. They publish calendars and fact-books about clouds every end of the year. Membership is cheap, so you get the calendars and I'm telling you they are wonderful! One other Filipino 2yrs ago caught the perfect 'wave clouds' which really looked like waves from the sea in the sky!

7 Nov 2009 8:40am

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Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
3/5 seconds
F/16.0
ISO 200
35 mm