*THE* epic sunset

This was not just an epic sunset, this was THE epic sunset. Perhaps the best I have ever seen in person. I really hope some others here were able to get out and see the show. Didn't look like it went very far north, but it definitely stretched a loooong ways to the south. One of the best stacks of lenticulars I've ever seen lingering over Rainier.

This image is a 2-exposure composite, frames taken about half an hour apart, blended manually in Photoshop. There has been zero adjustment to the color of this image, only boosts of contrast and brightness.

Thanks for looking.

40D, 17-70 @ ~55mm, 10-15 sec per exposure f/9, polarizer, GNDs

You sure this was taken on this planet? Looks like a scene from the apocalypse!
Wow, this is quite the catch man. Amazing stuff!

Woah! Thats wild!

This is the coolest seattle skyline shot I've ever seen.

I can imagine a more telephoto shot with the space needle compressed against those clouds. That would really make a sweet combo. Got any more to share?

I got one that turned out pretty well, but that was taken well after the best of the color had faded. Don't have it online yet though.

Wow, the sky colors are spectacular and the lenticulars just put it over the top. Congrats.

I was working in Auburn when I saw those awesome lenticulars piling up over Rainier. I wanted nothing more than to be in a great location (like Kerry Park) to take a shot of that! I'm glad somebody did! I am glad I have a steady job, though!
This shot is just killer, an instant classic! This would sell out at Pikes Place

Bryan this is amazing. This has such an "other worldly" feel to it. I think your location was an excellent choice considering the incredibly rare sky. You now have a very unique image. I would have to agree this could be a once in a lifetime sunset. I was at trillium lake this evening with my brother on our way home from from work in Bend. There was a fantastic sunset with lenticulars galore over hood. Unfortunately for me, no camera. . .my only solace is that it wasn't quite THIS GOOD! Congrats

-Bryan

I saw some lenticulars way north from here in Vancouver. That's just amazing!

I just saw the cloud formation on the news. Man, did you have a lightshow! I was at work and had no idea this was happening. This is a killer shot, too.

I'm glad someone got to enjoy this firsthand. Thanks for the post!

Kevin

You got that right - this is THE epic sunset!

I'm curious how you did a composite in Photoshop? I'm pretty new to all that stuff. I'm assuming one shot was the city and another was the sunset/mountain?

Monika - Its pretty simple to blend frames like this. PSCS3 has an automated stacking feature that I used to align the two exposures. I made a color range selection on the exposure for the city lights and masked out the sky, then set the opacity of that layer to about 40% and did a little selective burning to quell some excessive highlights (mostly on the space needle). The key is getting the two (or more) exposures properly aligned, then you can just mess with masking out whatever is necessary until you have something you like.

Absolutely astonishing! And oh, so cool! Lucky you to be able to see this coming in time to get up to Kerry Park. Congrats on a stunning shot!!

Whoa, dude!! The other side of the mountains had a pretty awesome sky yesterday too, but you win the Red Award. With the sanguine color and all those lenticulars stacked up, it is just amazing, truly memorable. The backdrop to the city looks ominous, particularly around Rainier. "Well Mr. Frodo, we made it, we made it to Mordor".

I saw those clouds last night from the deck of my house and wondered who was out capturing them. They lenticular stacks petered out around Mt. Hood. Nice capture Bryan.

David M. Cobb

Dude, what kind of sacrifices were you offering to the weather Gods to get those conditions on an evening when you happened to be at Kerry?

Seriously, that has to be one of the greatest shots I've seen from that location. Sometimes when I am photographing something I think is amazing, I wonder in the back of my mind if my photographic skill will be up to the task of even remotely capturing what I am seeing and feeling. Did you have any of that while taking this? Regardless, you pulled it off so congrats on using your skills to capture it so well.

I've seen a few sunsets as good, but probably not better. Truly amazing. There wasn't a cloud in the whole sky down in Corvallis. You've got to warn me this is coming at least four hours in advance next time.

I'm soo glad someone captured the lenticulars yesterday! At about 3:30pm there were 3 distinct formations evenly spaced and about twice the size seen here. All I could do was watch in awe. I have a view of Rainier every day from work in Kent and for the past 4 years (if ever) have never seen cloud formations quite this spectacular. Congrats on the excellent image Bryan!

John, I guess the goats I sacrificed to the weather gods resulted in their switching my karma with Adamus' for one night since he apparently got my typical clear-sky skunk. Of course the fact that I live 5 minutes from Kerry Park and can see Rainier from my deck might have helped me predict this one.

Marc - The way I see it, you got epic on Thursday night, so I got Friday as payback.

Beautiful image! Nice work in ps.

Stellar shot, Brian. This seriously is a best seller if you get it in the right hands and right product. Amazing conditions and this classic view of Seattle at the same time. Truly mind blowing.

Fabulous, Brian. I would sure like to see this with the sky and mountain just a little brighter, making the buildings stand out in silhouette.

Excellent camera and photoshop work. Thanks for the PP details.

I'll let the moderators edit my profanity because I just have to say HOLY SHIT!!! AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!

oh yeah...can you say M&N editor's pick for the entire year of 2008?!!?

I appreciate the sentiment Rick. Haven't submitted it to M&N yet (didn't really know if there was too much 'man' and not enough 'nature' to the shot or not - I will now though), plus I'm not an NPN member, so no EPs for me.

very nice! the colors are great. I was there that night too. I was probably standing near you. There were about 6-7 tripods when I showed up at Kerry Park. I live in the area, saw the sunset and raced up to catch just the last 15 min.

Awesome shot, right place, right time....the linticular clouds are surreal, the colors are amazing. I am with John on this, if makarted to the right person could yeild a tidy sum.

Roman

I love the scene and execution, but at the same time I find that the foliage intruding from the bottom left is very distracting, and threatens to overwhelm the other obvious technical and aesthetic merits of this shot. For a shot this nice, I believe it would be worth it to re-photograph the portion of the foreground that is obscured, perhaps from a similar position but without the foliage, and then blend that portion back in to the original image... definitely would take some work, but you're not likely to see a sky like this again in the near future!

Daniel - There is, unfortunately, no way to work around the trees from this spot. Only way to get rid of them is to crop them out, and that'd sacrifice way too much of the frame.

Simply amazing. Archive the heck out of this one as it should sell for years to come.

I was at Kerry Park for sunrise on this morning....got skunked, thought about going back for sunset; decided not to, too tired; big mistake.

Now I see what everyone was calling us about. WOWSERS! Bryan that is too cool. Out here in Snoqualmie, we had some pink, but nothing like this. Busy packing and trying to get out, we barely looked outside.

Hey - would you post your stacking technique on a tip sheet? It's worth saving out here.
Nancy

Words really can't describe this image. A stunning achievement!

I'm curious though, what was your reason for using a polarizer?

The polarizer set the lower clouds off a little more against the high clouds and helped to cut the haze and pollution a little bit. Lengthened the exposure too.

Bryan there is soooooooooooooooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch NATURE in that sky I am SURE you have M&N NAILED!

Nancy & I were feverishly packing up for shoot and had no idea until the phone started ringing from some of our friends wondering if we were out shooting the sunset!