Stormy Halloween Sunset, a photo from California, Ouest

Photographer's Note

Earlier this week, the San Francisco area had record heat--clear skies and temperatures up to 90F. A couple days later, on Halloween, it was suddenly freezing cold and stormy.

The rain stopped before sunset, and I drove up into the Berkeley hills to capture this shot of the tumultuous clouds over the Golden Gate just after sundown. Colors are a bit unreal, but that's what it looked like. Spooky. Appropriate on Halloween!

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gringofil (0) 2003-11-01 11:53

I really like the orange Halloween colors you captured as well as the Golden Gate way off in the distance. The formations of clouds look spectacular, but I would crop a bit off the top as there is much too much of them. Apart from that, well done.

Didi (61589) 2003-11-01 12:01

Pour halloween il faut ajouter un vol de sorcières (joking).
Ciel extra dramatique, ce qui donne beaucoup de punch à l'image. Au loin le jet de feu du soleil ressemble à une éruption volcanique.

For halloween it is necessary to add a flight of witch (joking).
Extra dramatic sky, which gives much punch to the picture. Far away, the jet fire of the sun looks like a volcanic eruption.

martin (1242) 2003-11-01 12:39

This is magnificent. I lived in Berkeley for three years and never saw anything quite this impressive (and certainly never experienced anything like 90F). I like the composition and I particularly like the contrast between the dramatic clouds and the wispier clouds beyond the Golden Gate. I would clone out the small bright light in the city.

ronners (10) 2003-11-01 13:19

This is brilliant Sam. The deep orange leading to white is unreal, and using the Golden Gate as a subject makes this one twice as good.

(Check the straightness of this one - the bridge seems to need a bit of clockwise rotation)

nwoehnl (122) 2003-11-01 13:50

Gorgeous shot. I would agree with gringofil and try cropping at least 3/4 inch of the clouds on the top, if not even radically all the way down to where the unobscured view of the sky ends. The mountain range behind the bridge, and the jet fire of the sun behind even those, make for a marvelous feeling of perspective. A great achievement, congratulations.

flip89 (3418) 2003-11-01 15:02

The drama is endless. Like many said, judicious cropping could enhace this already just magnificent skyscape. And while you're at it, you probably could make several crops to make several pictures, each crop emphasizing different elements (for example, the clouds alone, or the panoramic view of the bay, or a vertical crop - left or right - with the bridge emphasized) - each will still be a worthy picture, I would think. But if push come to shove I would settle for the crop suggested by gringofil and nwoehni.

FractalWizard (10) 2003-11-01 21:23

Great shot Sam..and yes very appropo for halloween as well..i love cloud shots and this one is great with the clear sky above and the orange below..good job :)