Noctilucent Clouds (Round 2)

Around 9:45 this evening I received multiple phone calls from friends that there were noctilucent clouds (NLC's) out over Seattle. I quickly ran outside to see how interesting they were and was blow away at how bright and structured they were. I quickly grabbed my camera, coat and flip-flops and drove over to Log Boom Park. When I arrived I was amazed at how much brighter they were than last weeks NLC's. Below are the photographs that I took, you can also view the whole NLC set on flickr.

"Good vs. Evil"


"Path to the Heavens"


"Striking a Pose"


"Fading into the Night"

Log Boom Trails

I went to Golden Gardens again this evening with some friends and on the way home I decided that yesterday's startrails image didn't satisfy me. So I drove out to Log Boom Park and set up this 103 exposure image. It doesn't have the dynamic tree that the last one did but there aren't a ton of planes either...

"Log Boom Trails"


Each exposure has these attributes:
Shutter Speed: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 640
Focal Length: 10mm

Magnolia Expressway

Yesterday, Rahul and I drove to the bluff in Magnolia overlooking the Puget Sound a place I haven't been to recently. While my camera was working on this image I helped Rahul learn how to take night shots with his Olympus EVOLT E-510.

"Magnolia Expressway"


This is a startrails image made up of 143 exposures. I knew there would be a couple planes in this image but there are WAY to many....

Each exposure has these attributes:
Shutter Speed: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 640
Focal Length: 10mm

Noctilucent or Polar Mesospheric Clouds

Extremely rare noctilucent or polar mesospheric clouds were visible in the PNW Tuesday and Wednesday this week! These clouds are usually not visible south of 50 degrees north but recently have been seen as far south as Nebraska. These clouds form in the mesosphere about 50 miles above the earths surface in the Northern Hemisphere summer when the mesosphere is the coldest (yes that's right, coldest). The can only be seen after the sun has set (usually about an hour into twilight) when the sun is illuminating them from below (because they are so far above the earth's surface they still receive sunlight).

The first sighting of these clouds was in 1885 and there is no evidence to suggest they may have been around before then, so this is a relatively new atmospheric phenomena that is not well understood. Some believe that it is tied with global warming as they have become more are more frequent over time and have moved further south. Whatever the cause, they are beautiful and make for great photographs!

UPDATE 7/23/2009: More noctilucent clouds (NLC's) formed today that were even brighter! Click here to see them.

One Fine Day

"One Fine Day"

"An Eerie Night"

95 Second exposure taken from Log Boom Park.

Marine Push!

Update: Scott Sistek from Komo 4 News has posted a weather blog about the push. It has my photo as well as a link to my flickr set. http://www.komonews.com/weather/blog/47030847.html

Update: the photo I took during the most intense part of the push is currently the front page photo on http://www.komonews.com/!

Tuesday: 88 degrees.
Wednesday: 89 degrees.
Thursday: 91 degrees.

This is JUNE for cryin' out loud! Well we FINALLY got some relief today around 9:00pm when a VERY strong marine push blew through.

My friend Don sent me a text at 8:50 this evening asking me if I was outside. He said that the sky was on fire and the winds had just come up quickly. I knew there was some very strong convection down in northern Oregon today so my first though was a very strong gust front. Turns out it was an extremely strong marine push coming from the ocean! I looked at the radar and sure enough there was a strong signal of very strong winds that indicated it was almost here. I quickly threw my camera stuff together and went over to Log Boom Park at the northern tip of Lake Washington. I got there just in time to see the very end of the gorgeous sunset!

9:01pm


I then turned my attention to the push that was almost there. It was fairly obvious where it was by looking at both the clouds and the surface of the water.

9:05pm


I ran down to the end of the pier and set up my camera just as the wind started to pick up. Here you can see the surface of the water is starting to get a little rough as the winds pick up ahead of the push.

9:10pm


Then it hit within about 30 seconds. The winds gusted up to over 50 knots and made it very hard to stand, let alone take photos! Below is a 1 second exposure I took during the most intense part. I am holding on the the tripod and camera as best as possible to keep it from shaking!

9:13


Then as the winds settled a bit (down to 20-30 knots) the enhanced bands of clouds rolled overhead

9:18pm


9:18pm


After about 5 more minutes the winds settled to 15-20kts where they stayed for awhile. This is the last shot in the series showing the enhanced band moving north.

9:23pm


I packed up and left. I have NEVER been on such a photographic AND meteorological high at the same time. It was a meteorologists/photographers dream!

Welcome To Seattle

I took this from a park that sits just to the north of Boeing Field. Mount Rainier has been spectacular the last couple of days! I'm slowly working on posting photos regularly again.

Startrails in Photoshop CS4!

Finally tried my first startrails image since getting my MacBook Pro. I used the photoshop action and stacked 109 30 second exposures together. It came out better than expected! I really like the light trails from the planes too as they take off from Sea-Tac Airport. The exposures were taken from Kerry Park on the south side of Queen Anne.



UPDATE: I am currently working on a 3 part night tutorial series! See my most recent blog posts to see it!

Photo of the Day

The sun sets behind Gerberding Hall on the UW campus. I had just walked out of our midterm review session and happened to have my camera with me.