Eastern Sky Appirition - Bisti Badlands, NM
After the sun went down on a completely cloudless afternoon, this aurora like appirition appeared in the eastern sky that completely amazed me....
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After the sun went down on a completely cloudless afternoon, this aurora like appirition appeared in the eastern sky that completely amazed me.
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Apr, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken at the Bisti Badlands in New Mexico, a place of strangely eroded rock and sediment. It has such a variety of colors, from red, orange, buff, tan, black and everything in between.Time
It was taken after the sun went down below the horizon during the blue hour.Lighting
The entire day had been cloudless, along with the sunset and I had taken what I thought was the best shot of the day. The sun had already set and I had packed up, only concerned with hiking the several miles back to the car, when I saw this amazing "thing" just above the eastern horizon. It looked almost like an aurora, but magenta/pink/blue. I don't know what it was and it didn't' last long, but I did manage to get the camera out of the bag and click off a few shots before this apparition faded away; still the sky had no clouds. As luck would have it, the moon was just in the right spot for an added bonus.Equipment
Nikon D800, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Gitzo tripod, Singh Ray hard step 2-stop neutral density filter.Inspiration
The awe inspiring apparition in the sky had me spellbound. It was something I had never seen before nor since and still, to this day, do not know exactly what it was because as I said, there were no clouds all day before and after its appearance.Editing
Yes, I didn't think it would last very long so I wanted to record at least the sky before it either disappeared or I could find something a bit more interesting for a foreground. After getting the sky, I quickly ran around to find something for a more interesting foreground than the original image. Not too far away I found what I believe was the remnants of a hill made up of Red Sandstone that had long since eroded down to the level of the flat areas and was able to capture the few remaining rocks lit by the glow from the western sky before going almost completely dark. By then the aparition had begun to fade a bit, so I merged the first sky with the more interesting foreground of the second image.In my camera bag
The equipment above along with a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (for it's f/22 smallest aperture) a Nikon 80-200mm f/4.5 ais, an old very sharp manual focus lens, split neutral density filters, lens shades and a cable release.Feedback
Always be ready for the unexpected because you never know what Mother Nature will put in front of your lens. As Ansel Adams once said: "Sometimes I think God put me somewhere just when it's time to trip the shutter" or something to that effect. That is exactly how I felt that night.
