Phenomenal

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

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Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I was photographing sunset for my astronomy course to help explain to the students the difference between visual sunset and astronomical sunset. Typically visual sunset happens after astronomical sunset due to refraction. But on this evening i started to see the sun warping and became very hopeful of seeing and photographing the Green Flash Phenomenon. I had not see it since 2002 back in the day when I was still photographing with a Nikon F3 with manual film advancing and even though I saw back then, the green flash peaked mid-wind of advancing the film, so I only caught a slight speck of green.

With the D850 in hand this time, I just kept taking photos about one every second. I came away with three frames with the green flash clearly there, this one was the largest and most vibrant flash.

The other cool thing about this sunset is the Mock Mirage making it look like there are two suns. This effect is caused by having a strong inversion layer in the atmosphere, and it was the case at that time. It was mid-December and I was sitting on Borel Hill on the San Francisco Peninsula at 2575 feet and it was a balmy 68 degrees Fahrenheit

Specific Feedback

Any feedback on this photo is appreciated. Have you ever seen the Green Flash in real life?

Technical Details

Nikon D850, Nikon 400mm f/5.6 MF lens at f11 1/2500 sec ISO 100. This is a crop from the full frame, about 30% of frame. Minimal processing in ACR and then in Photoshop.

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2

Youssef, how cool that you caught a green flash. It’s a rare phenomena. Years ago there was a great web site in the UK that gave thorough explanations and showed good photos of all the atmospheric optical phenomena, sadly it’s gone now, replaced by something much less informative. The hint of land at the bottom is nice, but I could also see a crop of the top half.

3

Hi Youssef,
What a cool looking image. I have never heard of the Green Flash Phenomenon before so thanks for sharing that bit of information. This had to be quite the treat to view first hand. I also like the distortion of the sun and the mirage effect you mentioned as it make for a unique scene. Very nicely done!

4

Best green flash photo I’ve ever seen! And thanks for the explanations of astronomical vs. visual sunset (didn’t know there was a difference) and the mirage phenomenon.

5

Although I have seen the green flash many times, it usually appears just as the top of the sun exits the horizon. It has also been very difficult to film. Congratulations for getting a good image of it, and on top of that with a Mock Mirage.

6

Very nice capture, and great explanations! I’ve managed a couple of captures over the years but none had any other interesting features.