Only Partly Lucky

I was out early, somewhat unenthusiastically (I may explain in a subsequent post) thinking about making more blue hour photos, when I spied a glow on the eastern horizon, overlain by the significant layer of cloud.

It caused me to turn left instead of the planned right.

Following light is, more often than not, a waste of time because light can change quickly. But conditions seemed like they might be stable that morning, and I didn't have far to go.

Five minutes later, I found a spot to pull off, just outside of town.

And I got the shot.

Isn't that a great formation with the overhanging cloud coming down to the horizon on the right? As you can see there were also early morning lights on in the barn beyond a layer of mist, and I soon saw the farmer drive off on his tractor. On the middle right, there are a couple of streaks of light from cars on the highway beyond. I'd like to try that again sometime, focusing on them.

I was on what amounts to a service road, so the occasional car and truck went by. I got one in this photo. I like it too.

Then, I turned around, looking in the other direction from the first photo. There was a corn field in front of me and an overpass just beyond. The sky look very different in that direction about fifteen minutes after the first photo.

That photo required two exposures, one for the corn field and one for the sky. Perhaps I could have done it in one exposure and adjusted it all in edit, but I think it was better this way because 3 stops of light difference between the two exposures is a lot.

I really lucked out, as I quite like all three photos. It's a good thing that I was out with my gear. That part wasn't luck, though.