Sunrise, Sunset...

No, we're not talking Fiddler on the Roof (Even though, "If I were a rich man, I'd buy a bigger telephoto lens." has a nice ring to it.).

I love a good sunrise or sunset. The kind where the light hits the clouds and the sky is filled with bright yellows, oranges, and reds, with contrasting blues. I've been fortunate to have seen a fair number of amazing sunrises and sunsets, and even managed to photograph some of them.

I'm still hoping one day to catch a "green flash". This is a rare occurrence and only happens when the sun sets over water. There's quite a bit of complex physics around it, and it requires the right combination of moisture in the air and an unobstructed view of the setting sun. What happens is that the light of the sun is refracted by the atmosphere in such a way that just as the sun disappears from view, green light from the sun's spectrum briefly shines above the sun's position, hence the name, "green flash".

Sunrises:

It is often surprising what a small change in position or perspective can provide. Take for instance this series of sunrise shots, all taken the same morning, within a couple of minutes of each other. The shots were taken just outside the eastern entrance to Prinz Christian Sund, a fjord system in the southern tip of Greenland the morning of September 4, 2017. The Ocean Atlantic, the expedition ship I was on, was just entering the fjord, moving northwesterly. The first shot was taken just as the sun appeared above the horizon. A minute later, the next shot was taken, but the ship had moved so that we were now directly in line with the island that appears slightly to the left of the rising sun. The third shot was taken a minute after the second shot, but now the ship had moved so that another set of islands was in the path and this island had a convenient "keyhole" to catch just the top of the rising sun.

Sometimes it isn't the clouds that are most impressive, but another object in the sky.

A bright orange "super moon" sets as day breaks in the Kalahari Central Game Reserve, in central Botswana in November 2016. Even the giraffes seem impressed.

The photo captures the slowly setting moon as day breaks on the west coast of Greenland, while the ship is surrounded by fog. The sun has risen enough to cast an orange color to the cloud tops. Sept. 2017 outside of Kvanefjord

Sometimes the rising sun can illuminate patterns in clouds that are quite remarkable. Take for example this shot of a Kelvin-Helmholtz wave in the fjord east of Nuuk, in western Greenland.

A Kelvin-Helmholtz wave is caused by instability in air flow, which sets up alternating areas of pressure. The spirals are quite beautiful and the low sun angle really brings out the detail. One of the weird things about traveling within fjords is that at times it seems like the sun will never come up. Because the fjords are generally quite deep and narrow, the sun has to get fairly high in the sky before it can be seen.

Here, the sky is starting to lighten, but the mountains and clouds are blocking the sun's rays. The indirect sunlight does make the blue of the icebergs almost glow.

Here's another example of getting fooled that sunrise was only moments away. In reality, it took another hour before the sun actually rose above the mountains and clouds!

On the eastern side of Greenland, there's only water (Denmark Strait), so the sunrise is much easier to predict. Here, there are a few low clouds that have a hint of color and their are bands of color at the horizon.

At lower latitudes, one can also see color bands near or at sunrise. This shot was taken in January 2018 on Half Moon Caye in Belize on the western Caribbean. The higher cirrus clouds have some color, as well, but the sun is too low to light up the clouds close to the water.

Here the sun has just arisen and the cumulus clouds are lit up be the sun's rays. Hundreds of frigatebirds are in the air, awaiting the arrival of red-footed boobies returning from hunting for squid. The frigatebirds are klepto-parasitic, as they don't fish themselves, but rely on stealing food caught by the boobies.

The next image is the most remarkable cloud color I've ever experienced. This was taken early in the morning while the ship I was on was in the Davis Strait, between Baffin Island and Greenland.

The deep reds and purples were spectacular and I thought I might get a spectacular sunrise, but alas, the clouds were too thick at the horizon and as daybreak approached, the sky got duller and duller.

One Sunday morning this past November, I was making breakfast when I noticed a glow in the sky. I went outside and was stunned by the amazing light. I was like someone had set the sky on fire. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but what a sight!

Sunsets:

Even though I consider myself an early riser, for most people, it is a lot easier for them to get a nice sunset photo than a sunrise photo. The right location also helps. For whatever reason, some places consistently seem to have great sunsets, while others can be almost guaranteed to be dull. By and large, as great as the weather is usually in the San Francisco Bay Area, it can make for generally lackluster sunsets. We seem to need a passing cold front during the rainy season from October - April to get anything decent. The rest of the year is usually pretty dull (sunset -wise), or I am stuck in traffic and can't (and shouldn't) photograph.

[Okay, I was driving when I snapped this photo. But that was the evil Harvey, and he's gone now.]

For whatever reason, Botswana in southern Africa seems to be a great place for sunsets. Maybe it was the specific time of the year I was there (November), but it generally delivered most every evening.

This shot was taken my first evening in the Central Kalahari Game Preserve in Botswana, in November 2016. A passing giraffe provides a sense of place and the combination of clouds and open sky result in a great sunset. Those shafts of light are called crepuscular rays.

The second day brought a few more clouds, as the rainy season was due. The setting sun is hidden behind clouds, but the rays are still visible.

A thunderstorm had just passed overhead before the sun set on the third day in the Kalahari. The cloud patterns seem to be quilted, due to the instability of the upper level winds, but the sky to the west is clear.

This photo was taken in the Okavango Delta in northwestern Botswana, in November 2016, as was the following photo.

Here, the waterway reflects the colors in the sky and the crepuscular rays highlight parts of the cloud bottoms.

The Linyanti River forms part of the northern border between Botswana and Namibia. Further east, the Linyanti River becomes the Chobe River. which then forms the northern border between Botswana and Zambia. Due to a geological fault, the Botswana side of the river is higher ground and the Namibian side is lower and tends to be swamp and grassland and the river is a a prime spot for wildlife viewing. The vivid, dark red is due to smoke from Namibian farmers burning their fields.

Crop burning was helpful in the following photo taken in Madagascar at Baobob Alley in western Madagascar.

Though there aren't any clouds, the smoke provides enough scattered light. For a sense of scale, in the lower third of the photo, you can make out a few people at the base of one of the trees.

Later in the trip, we were in the central highlands of Madagascar and we didn't need any smoke...

Sunset in the central highlands of Madagascar (July 2016). Just the perfect placement of clouds and sky. The sun had just set under the horizon and the clouds in the distance are still illuminated by the sun.

The first night I was on Half Moon Caye, Belize, in the western Caribbean, I observed a very nice sunset:

The clouds were along the horizon and overhead, but we had a nice stretch of ocean between us and the setting sun. The reflection of the sun off the water was diffuse, but noticeable and the overcast sky helped darken the sea and turned it almost purple.

This was taken a couple of minutes later. By now, the sun has set and there are a few crepuscular rays left. In a few spots the waves show some orange highlights. Based on this experience, I thought we'd get more great sunsets, but this was the only one.

My own experience near the Equator has been that once the sun sets, it seems to get dark very quickly compared to higher latitudes.

This shot was taken just before sunset along a beach in Penang, Malaysia in Jan. 2007.

Mountains can be a great place to record a sunset. Some mountain ranges make their own weather, as uplifting moisture creates clouds near the slopes.

Thse lenticular clouds formed along the Southern Alps near Mt. Hood, in the South Island of New Zealand. I particularly like the way the sun's ray have struck a smaller set of clouds on the right.

Here is a panoramic view of Mt. Hood and neighboring peaks at sunset, with a few lenticular clouds nearby

Here's Mt. Hood again, continuing to pan to the right, with the clouds picking up the last colors of the sunset.

The Mountain West of the United States is a good place to catch nice sunset photos, as well.

This photo is from a campground in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Not only are the clouds orange, but the mountain has been turned orange, as well.

The next image is from the Sierra Mountains of California, and is a familiar landmark:

Half Dome at sunset from the vantage of Glacier Point, with a few wispy clouds in the background. The granite is slightly pink . Cloud's Rest, the peak behind Half Dome is higher in elevation and even brighter orange.

Sunsets can be tricky to predict. Late in the afternoon, you see clouds that seem to be at the right height and position and then as the sun sets, they disappear. This is especially true with cumulonimbus clouds. They derive much of their energy from the sun and as the sun sets, the clouds can quickly disappear. In this case, the thunderstorm clouds hung around long enough to get this shot.

Here is an example of clouds dissipating just as the sun set. A few moments earlier, these clouds were larger and just beginning to get some color.

High cirrus clouds are usually the most reliable, as they form high up in the atmosphere. The lower cumulus clouds are dull and gray, but the higher cirrus clouds are bathed in light.

Here we have a nice mix of clouds at several elevations and no mountains directly in front of the setting sun.

The lower clouds are tinged with red, and the more distant clods are yellow-orange. Above them all are a few wispy cirrus clouds.

Sometimes, clouds come from seemingly nowhere, just in time. This day had been cloudless, but a weak cold front moved through late in the afternoon and brought these few high clouds with it.

Beautiful sunrises and sunsets are transitory events, they are often difficult to predict, and they last for only a moment. It is worthwhile, therefore, that when one does occur, that we take the time to appreciate their special nature, whether or not we have a camera handy.