Jock Elliott
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Troy, NY
(also posted at M43)
If there exists, someplace, a list of bona fide sky freaks, you would probably find me on it. The sky is the greatest show off earth, and I got addicted to watching it over 40 years ago.
Fifteen years ago, I started taking pictures of the doings overhead with a digital camera. The sky is dynamic; things come and go, and you never know what might happen next. So I usually have a camera on me whenever I am out and about.
Except Tuesday. The better half and I needed to run a short errand, and I was feeling a little beat-up from a tumble I had taken the previous day. So, camera-less, we ran the errand. Stepping out of the store, the better half (aka Spotter-in-Chief) says, "Look at that! Can you get a picture of it?" She points to a break in the clouds where rainbow light is shimmering.
There isn't much of the rainbow visible, but it looks so flat that I am guessing that it is not a regular arc-type rainbow but rather the kind of rainbow that is produced when sunlight shines through ice crystals waaaaaay up high.
No camera, I stammer. She looks at me in disbelief. No wait, I say. There's a camera on the cell phone. I flip the phone open and press the button to activate the 1.3 megapixel camera. It is impossible to compose the shot with any precision using the postage-stamp display. Aiming in the general direction of the rainbow, I press the button a couple of times.
Here's the original:
Here it is with the color cranked up:
It is a sad and hard-earned lesson: take a camera everywhere and see what happens.
Cheers, Jock
If there exists, someplace, a list of bona fide sky freaks, you would probably find me on it. The sky is the greatest show off earth, and I got addicted to watching it over 40 years ago.
Fifteen years ago, I started taking pictures of the doings overhead with a digital camera. The sky is dynamic; things come and go, and you never know what might happen next. So I usually have a camera on me whenever I am out and about.
Except Tuesday. The better half and I needed to run a short errand, and I was feeling a little beat-up from a tumble I had taken the previous day. So, camera-less, we ran the errand. Stepping out of the store, the better half (aka Spotter-in-Chief) says, "Look at that! Can you get a picture of it?" She points to a break in the clouds where rainbow light is shimmering.
There isn't much of the rainbow visible, but it looks so flat that I am guessing that it is not a regular arc-type rainbow but rather the kind of rainbow that is produced when sunlight shines through ice crystals waaaaaay up high.
No camera, I stammer. She looks at me in disbelief. No wait, I say. There's a camera on the cell phone. I flip the phone open and press the button to activate the 1.3 megapixel camera. It is impossible to compose the shot with any precision using the postage-stamp display. Aiming in the general direction of the rainbow, I press the button a couple of times.
Here's the original:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Here it is with the color cranked up:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
It is a sad and hard-earned lesson: take a camera everywhere and see what happens.
Cheers, Jock