mile ridge Archives - Bliss Photographics

Sunset 40 Mile Ridge . The Sun becomes stuck in a rut occasionally as well. 😜

The solar disk was occluded by thick clouds before this. I thought I wasted my trip out. This last minute break/slit occurred . Then it slipped under the cloud deck which allowed this very small portion of the far horizon.

Looking into the setting sun from 40 miles distant. That Ridge is in the “Red Hills”. (Their name.) The horizon rising to cover the globe of fire so delicately veiled by the shroud of clouds close to the ground this evening. The nuclear processes emitting photos traveling 93 million miles over about 8 minutes of travel time. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second so I am actually looking back in time and Space by 8 minutes.

Awkwardly, I remind you that the sun is not line of sight here but actually below the horizon. The image of the sun is bent around the earth. RIght around the curvature a bit. Distorted from below the line of sight into my view. Its a phenomena that is always happening as the atmosphere acts like a lens and bends the image. When ever light travels through medium(s) of different refractive index(s), it get’s bent. The various different temperature layers of the atmosphere work in a similar way to a glass lens of the same curvature. does with the light. It’s not until a few minutes later that line of sight catches up with reality as the sun rises above the atmosphere.

The Deep Yellows and Reds of this Image are the only colors to reach my photon capture devices (cameras). The atmospheric moisture and dust is the gauntlet to all shorter wavelengths. I carry a variety of these photon traps with me most times I venture out into the backcountry. This one was a Sony Alpha 7RIV, 600mm G Series Sony/Zeiss Telephoto with a 2X focal extender by Sony. 📷

Metadata : ISO100, f64, 1200mm, 1/500th. 3’x2′ aspect.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Sunset 40 Mile Ridge

Forty Mile Ridge Sunset

That Ridge is indeed 40 miles distant from my camera. Those fully grown 50 foot tall pine trees . They exist on that high ridge called the “Red Hills” that the sun is “setting” behind. The “Red Hills are the highest point between my ranch and the Big Horn Mountains.

Don’t forget now… This is not a sunset but a ridge rise .. Actually the ridge is rising in front of the suns face. We are the ones that are moving not the sun in this relative geometry any how. 🤔 You know, the earth is spinning like a top….

The swirl of clouds and mists were heavily blocking the sun until it broke through at the last second saving it’s best for the last light of the day. Once your on stage, you want it again. The sun must like it because it seems to keep coming back over and over for more …. 👀 I’ve been up on that ridge a time or two and it’s about 500 feet over the surrounding ground to the west and has BIG views of the BigHorn Mountains just over its shoulder. Big Views!

Pointing Really long telephotos at really bright sunsets is an exercise in very high f-stop in the 70 (ish) range depending on your rig. You want a pin hole aperture as a wide open lens would cook your camera’s sensor chip. Shutting the camera down to light has the benefit of silhouetting everything but the bright stuff (highlights). By the time you see a yellow sun versus a white sun in my images, I’ve turned the shutter speed fast enough to only let that light register with the sensor.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title : Forty Mile Ridge Sunset