The Sky
Home
Up
Prev
Next

Nearly every landscape shot includes a piece of the sky. So do many portraits. The sky is something that is with us every day. It is the source of daylight, it is the source of clouds and it is the ultimate azure. It is the bed of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. It is also the canvas upon which the most beautiful sight you can see is painted: the sunset.

The sky makes a marvelous backdrop for any subject. A deep textureless summer azure will perfectly compliment any building, animal, person, vegetable or thing, since virtually nothing in this world resembles the sky. Partial or complete cloud also make an excellent backdrop. But the sky can also be a subject all on its own as these pictures demonstrate.

The sky can be a difficult subject to photograph due to the potential for excessive dynamic range. The sun is the brightest thing that is naturally occurring and anything that is photographed near it will be so much darker as to appear virtually black, that is except at sunset, where the sun's brightness is weakened by its oblique angle to the atmosphere. Similarly, the sun's reflection off a cloud is still very bright and will make the dark parts of a cloud appear too dull. The human eye can deal with this enormous dynamic range, seeing both the detail in the bright and dark patches, but the camera and the display screen cannot. The photographer can expose for the brights or darks but not for both. The effect of this is that sunsets and dark clouds don't usually do justice to the original scene. There are occasional exceptions but these are rare, and kudos the photographer who captures them!

THUMBNAIL
(click to view 1200px image) 		PARAMETERS

COMMENTS
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Cloud Front" (Portland, 2006)

Not much to say about this shot, just point the camera at the sky and press the button.
Picture Canon A610
10mm (46mm)
f/4
1/640 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Rain Cloud" (Portland, 2006)

These massive rain clouds were still some way off and although the sky was darkening considerably there was still plenty of light.

I tried taking this shot from ground level in my back yard but there was too much extraneous vegetation and structures in the way, so I climbed up onto the roof and took a this one.
Picture Canon A610
15mm (72mm)
f/3.5
10 sec
ISO 200
P Mode
Tripod

Full Size

"Orion" (Portland, 2006)

A simple idea: to take a photo of the stars... Perhaps with some big aperture SLRs it might be a doddle, but it with this camera it was quite a challenge! I had to use manual focus and set it to infinity, then it was touch and go as to whether I could frame the shot, since the viewfinder was too dim, and the LCD only just showed the occasional star. But I got it! ... Just.

If you zoom right in, you can just see the great nebula, (2nd star in the sword hilt).
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Power Sunset" (Portland, 2006)

I saw this shot and wondered if I could get it, since sunset shots are so often disappointing. The exposure is critical. Using exposure lock I tried exposing for the ground and exposing for the sky. Exposing for the ground blew out the sky and left the whole scene looking like daylight. Obviously exposing for the sky is the go for such shots.

I tried a little lighten shadows to bring the ground up to the way I remembered the shot but it detracted from the feeling of sunset so I left it.
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.5
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Pivot Sky" (Portland, 2006)

The emission stack from the Pivot fertilizer works in Portland is a famous landmark. As sulphur is a significant ingredient the smoke plume reeks when it blows towards the town.

Fortunately, most of the time the prevailing wind blows it away.
Picture Canon A610
11mm (52mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Fence Against The Sky" (Merino, 2006)

This autumn paddock in the afternoon shade with its semi-decrepit fence against the light blue sky was a natural shot.

Unfortunately, when I brought up the foreground which was unavoidably underexposed the colour detail had been lost. Damn 24 bit colour!
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Merino Sky" (Merino, 2006)

The mares' tails in this sky over Merino in the late afternoon were too good to pass up. Just point and shoot.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/2.8
1 sec
ISO 50
P Mode
2 sec delay
Camera set on Car

Full Size

"Moon Through The Trees" (Mt Eccles, 2006)

Sitting by the cap fire in the bush at Mt Eccles I saw the nearly full moon rise above the horizon and thought: "Gotta gedda shodda that!"

So I tried and I tried. No matter what I did I couldn't get any detail on the face of the moon, I suspect the detail is below the resolution of 24 bit colour. Perhaps if I had used a filter I might have caught it?

Anyway, I did manage to capture this shot of the moon behind some cloud, through the trees.
Picture Canon A610
15mm (72mm)
f/3.5
1/40 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Rain At Dusk?" (Portland, 2006)

The sun had just set when there was a break between rain clouds, so I opened the window and took this shot.
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/400 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Sunset Over Julia Street" (Portland, 2006)

Sunsets never come up in a photograph as one sees them in real life ... at least that is my opinion. But that's no reason not to try. Everyone takes sunset shots and so do I.

This one seemed to work reasonably well.
Picture Canon A610
17mm (83mm)
f/6.3
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Cloud Over Portland" (Portland, 2006)

On a walk around the back of Portland there was little to make a great picture except the sky. And it was only one part of the sky that was really good, I threw the others out.

When I get a real wide angle lens I will do the sky justice! Until then this will have to do.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Rainbow" (Portland, 2006)

Rainbows are like sunsets: they never look as good in a photo as they did in reality.
Still, this isn't too bad, maybe I'll get a better one in the future...
Picture Canon A610
17mm (83mm)
f/8
1/500 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Winter Cloud" (Glenelg Shire, 2006)

A lovely fluffy mass of cumulus.
Who would think such a friendly thing could make you wet and miserable?
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/1000 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Rain Coming" (Portland, 2007)

Let me assure you, this was an impressive cloud formation. It SHOUTED rain coming! Not so impressive here. Maybe it needs to be darker, but then it would just look dull.

More problems with the human eye having far greater dynamic range than the camera.
Ah well...
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
5 sec
ISO 100
P Mode
Tripod

Full Size

"Blood Moon" (Portland, 2007)

Every so often there is a total eclipse of the moon by the earth which results in the moon turning blood red for half an hour or more, due to the sun's light being bent through the earth's atmosphere and lighting the otherwise dark moon. Such an event took place in Portland on the 28th of August, 2007.

I was ready for this event and had the tripod and camera setup in anticipation.
It is interesting to note that I was able to get detail on the face of the moon that i had not been able to previously. I have no doubt that this was due to insufficient contrast on the normal face of the moon. The eye sees it readily enough but it has far greater dynamic sensitivity than a 24 bit camera image.
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/60 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Pink Sunset" (Portland, 2007)

Again the image failed to capture the glory of the sunset. Probably due to the eye's dynamic range.

Still it's not too bad. I'll replace it when I get something better.
Picture Nikon D60
Tamron 17-50 f2.8
17mm (26mm)
f/5.6
1/320 sec
ISO 100
A Mode

Full Size

"Cloud over the Port" (Portland, 2008)

I was riding into town one afternoon when the sky grew dark and I saw this amazing dense and compact cloud overhead. "Gotta getta shotta that" I thought and flew home for my camera. It looks tame in this shot but was dark and forbidding when I was directly under it!

I wanted to get the cloud unobscured by buildings or vegetation so I chased it around town trying various elevated positions. Over the bridge was good but I was shooting into the sun. Up north on the bluff I had the sun behind me and at max wide angle I got the entire cloud into the shot over the Port. Yes!
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
185mm (278mm)
f/5.3
1/50 sec
ISO 1600
S Mode

Full Size

"Smiling Moon" (Portland, 2008)

Now this one IS rare, only occurring every 40 years or so. The sickle moon lines up with Jupiter and Venus to form a smiling face.

I heard on the news that it was coming, so I kept an eye out during the night for a break in the clouds that had covered Portland. Sure enough around 10pm a large enough gap opened and I was able to photograph the scene. Focus on the moon then reframe. No tripod, ISO 1600 does the work!
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
92mm (138mm)
f/8
1/125 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Red Sunset" (Portland, 2008)

Finally! A sunset shot that works!

I think this is because the entire sky is covered in a uniform red. There aren't any high points to throw the contrast out, so we can see the richness and detail in the cloud. If there are clear points in the sky they will be too bright and make the colours look weak. Not so here.
Yes!