Sunset over the ocean.

Sunset over the ocean. In the zoomed shot, just moments after sunset, you can see the silhouette of Santa Barbara Island. There’s a park up in the hills that also has a clear view of the ocean, where you can see the more distant San Nicolas Island next to it. But down here near sea level, it’s below the horizon.

#photo #sunset #ocean

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Sometimes it’s worth remembering to look away from the sunset, too. I stopped to capture …

Sometimes it’s worth remembering to look away from the sunset, too. I stopped to capture this view yesterday.

(Incidentally: yes, there are signs and light poles inside the pond. The park doubles as a flood control basin.)

#photo #clouds #sunset #orange #park

Sometimes it's worth remembering to look away from the sunset, too. I stopped to capture ...

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Fiery sunset. One of those moments when you can’t stop and pull over to take …

Fiery #sunset. One of those moments when you can’t stop and pull over to take a photo, but you can pause at a red light.

#photography

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The next day:

I saw photos of this same sunset from at least 3 other people in the LA/OC area that I know or follow – but because we were all in different places relative to the landscape and clouds, and took the photos at different times, they all ended up looking different.

Pink clouds and blue sky, coastal cliffs, trees, buildings, orange clouds…a real mix.

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Moments after the sun set beyond the ocean, a last flash of refracted light burst out.

Moments after the sun set beyond the ocean, a last flash of refracted light burst out. It doesn’t look like a green flash in this shot, but if you swipe across, you can see a few seconds earlier, where there is definitely a green ring around the flattened image.

#sunset #greenflash

Disinterested Seagull

Disinterested Seagull: “What, there’s a sunset behind me? Nah, can’t make me look!”

Last Sunday, after a hectic afternoon running errands through Christmas shopping crowds, I went out to the Manhattan Beach Pier to watch the waves and relax. This seagull seemed to have the “relax” part down already.

Disinterested Seagull

#beach #photography #seagull #sunset

Orange: Sky, Flames, Balloon…

The first thing I noticed when going through my photos for the orange challenge is that I take a lot of sunset pictures! I made a point to mix it up and narrowed it down to twelve shots, then checked out how they looked together and settled on six. Then I realized I’d forgotten to upload one, and couldn’t bear to leave it out, bringing the gallery up to seven.

Ragged clouds in a blue sky, lit up yellow-orange just like a Maxfield Parrish painting…a bird of paradise flower…a cosplayer at Comic-Con dressed in a jumpsuit, wielding a Portal gun…ocean waves reflecting another sunset, made even deeper orange than usual by smoke from a wildfire….visiting the big orange balloon at Orange County’s Great Park…torches lighting the gateway to Adventureland at night…and finally a sunset shot, silhouetting the Manhattan Beach Pier…

Sunset in the Corner

Sunset Silhouette

When I have time to compose a scenic photo, the rule of thirds is usually on my mind. Even if I’m not putting an object off-center, I’m trying to line up visual borders with the 3×3 grid — a horizon, or the top or side of a building, or a treeline. Sometimes symmetry works better, though…and sometimes I’m just trying to get a snapshot of someone or something.

In this case, I stopped by a store after work and arrived just as the sun was about to set, at the top of a hill, giving me a clear view to the west. When that happens, you don’t go inside, you stop and watch!

(What I really wanted was to catch a nearby farm-style windmill silhouetted against the sun, but unfortunately the best place for that was in the middle of a crosswalk across a busy street, and I wasn’t going to trust in my ability to stop, aim, take a few photos, and get back to the side.)

Photo challenge (WordPress): Rule of Thirds