Pyro Cumulus Reflection
This anvil shaped, pyro-cumulus cloud is visible in Denver, CO, even though the generating forest fire is over fifty (50) miles away. ...
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This anvil shaped, pyro-cumulus cloud is visible in Denver, CO, even though the generating forest fire is over fifty (50) miles away.
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Sep, 2020Views
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Awards
Curator's Selection
Spring 21 Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
Peer Award
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Behind The Lens
Location
While visiting Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, we walked around one of the shallow lakes. Just after my wife and I crossed the foot bridge, we noticed this massive and growing cumulo-nimbus cloud, which was hanging over the Rocky Mountain Front Range ridge. These are not uncommon for this late in the day.Time
We had completed almost half of our walk along the lake's walking trail at about 4 in the afternoon. Cumulo-nimbus clouds are a common occurrence in our area; however, no thunderstorms were forecast for this day.Lighting
The sun was rapidly approaching the top of the ridge line to our South and West. This gave great back lights along the edges and gave an odd, dark interior glow compared to the typical roiling black of a growing thunderstorm.Equipment
I was carrying my Sony Alpha58 and my Sony 16-55 f/2.3 kit lens with mounted lens hood and UV Haze lens.Inspiration
The abnormal interior lighting and its sheer size, in addition to the unexpected appearance, made for a very interesting and powerful demonstration of Mother Nature's power and majesty, which needed to be captured.Editing
I used Skylum Luminar 4 to post process the RAW file version. I made use of decreased exposure, increased contrast, and dehaze to compensate for a slight, perceived over exposure due to the humidity from the lake, the rapidly cooling ridge face, and the moisture from the cooling of the rising forest fire heat and smoke column.In my camera bag
My photographer's backpack will be filled with 2 lenses, my Sony 16-55 mm zoom kit lens and my Tamron 75-300 km f/4.6 zoom lens. When traveling, I, also, carry an Olympus tg-2 Underwater camera, a GoPro 4 for riskier adventures. For accessories, I have a Sony wireless capable flash, a sturdy tripod, and my laptop with external 5TB SSD.Feedback
To capture a building pyro-cumulo-nimbus is unfortunately only possible when in the vicinity of a recently ignited and growing wild fire. All one can do is have the camera available and be prepared to find a braced position when in an open area.
