Understanding Light

On Saturday, after a drive that took us from Coloma to the Kit Carson Pass and then back to Sacramento I stopped on Scott Road and found a tree at sunset that intrigued me. Along that road there are a number of old stock trees that have given up the ghost, either because of their age or because of the drought we have suffered or for some unknown reason. But they present a stark image against the horizon. With a little post processing in separating out the spectrum (using Aperture - which I like better than Photoshop) I produced a number of different effects. The rest of the set is at my Flickr Site, As we drove along there were a dozen trees that were interesting. The challenge here is to catch the sunset but also to find an interesting shape to contrast it to. In this case, this one tree was the one I liked the best.

Sunrises are a bit more tricky to shoot, in part because your light is increasing not failing. The first shot is the one closest to the image I saw through the lens.