Crayola Funhouse - Mono Lake, California – Peter J. Coskun

Website: http://pjcphotography.com/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/76219461@N07/  

Previous Feature: Three Sisters  

I originally had no intention of shooting this evening. I had just driven 10 hours straight and was looking forward to a little bit of rest. However, upon arriving into the town of Mammoth lakes I saw the clouds beginning to form just north near mono lake. I knew the drive would only be around 30 minutes, so I checked into the hotel and threw all my non photo gear on the bed and booked it to the lake. Knowing the sun sets much later this time of year, I had plenty of time to explore the tufa formations around the lake. The clouds kept building up almost to the point where I was losing hope for a classic sierra sunset. In an instant, the clouds broke up slightly and the late rays of sunlight lit up the clouds in brilliant reds and oranges. I almost could not believe my eyes that I was seeing such a spectacular light show on my first evening there. I ran around grabbing comps with this amazing light. After seeing all the images of this place under these conditions, I knew it would take extra special light to bring something more unique to the image. The fiery reds soon turned into pastel pinks and the sky above turned from orange to pastel blue. I haven’t seen many shots with this type of light here, so I felt quite special to have it on this evening. It only lasted about five minutes or so, but it was a spectacular five minutes. I composed my shots and waited until all the light had faded. I felt quite lucky after this night, because it was clear blue skies and wind for the rest of my five day trip.

Camera: Canon 7D

Lens: Canon 17-40mm lens

Aperture: f22

ISO: 100

Shutter Speed: 5 second exposure

Other: 3 stop soft edge GND filter, tripod. 

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