A glorious moment of light

[MattBurt]

With the Lowline fire still burning 15 miles north of town it was encouraging to get some rain yesterday. It's been a while and everything gets so dry and dusty. It wasn't enough to extinguish the fire but it does slow its spread and help the firefighters with containment.
It also makes the mountain bike trails firm and tacky instead of loose and dusty as they have been lately. So I headed a few miles south of town to some of our high desert trails for an evening ride (with camera of course). The light was coming and going but really nice when it would break through. The smoke haze and rain were making for some well-defined crepuscular rays which are something I always like to see.
I could see some those rays forming when I was in a low area without good views so I high-tailed it up to an overlook (that got my heart rate up which is good) to see what I could capture. I got the camera out and discovered my trusty (but rather old) 16-50/2.8 was no longer zooming past 18mm. Thankfully the subject matter was well suited to wide shots and I just worked with what I could get. The light cooperated nicely and there was one of those magical moments where the stormy sky contrasts against the illuminated rocks. It was fleeting but I was ready and I feel like it worked out pretty well.

Here are the rays - I was about to get rained on which actually felt great.


Then the squall passed and looking in the opposite direction I was treated to this.


 

[David Eckels]

Fantastic!

[francois]

Stunning photos, both. I like how you handled the difficult lighting in the first shot.

[Bob_B]

Stunning photos, both. I like how you handled the difficult lighting in the first shot.

Yes, especially the first one. Nicely rendered shadows and background haze.

[MattBurt]

Fantastic!

Thanks David!

Stunning photos, both. I like how you handled the difficult lighting in the first shot.

Thanks! Yeah I took a few of that scene and wound up with -1 ev to reduce blowing out highlights and then had to bring everything back up in Lightroom but with significant negative highlights to preserve detail. 

Yes, especially the first one. Nicely rendered shadows and background haze.

Thanks Bob!

[Leszek Piotrowski]

Matt,

The second for me,...

Yes, looking back, periodically, ( humbly, mentioning to my daughter) when on the trail,.. pls do look back.

One never knows what just passed!

thanks

[Rajan Parrikar]

The second image for me - great light, unusual composition for a vista.

[MattBurt]

Matt,

The second for me,...

Yes, looking back, periodically, ( humbly, mentioning to my daughter) when on the trail,.. pls do look back.

One never knows what just passed!

thanks

The second image for me - great light, unusual composition for a vista.

Thank you both! Yes, the second one was what I was making the effort for. I could see the rain approaching and the light breaking through. I figured there would be a rainbow in the opposite direction with some foreground light. The first photo was one to take while I waited for the second one to present itself.
I like both but the second one preferable to me as well.

[PeterAit]

Two spectacular photos!

[MattBurt]

Two spectacular photos!

Thanks Peter!

[Mark Nadler]

Nice to both.

mark

[Paulo Bizarro]

Lovely and dramatic.