Sunset over the Great Salt Lake

July 24, 2012

GreatSaltLakeSunset1

Photographer
: Brent Watson
Summary Author: Brent Watson; Jim Foster

The photo above showing a glorious sunset over Great Salt Lake, Utah was taken on July 11, 2012. I had just walked outside my house in Bountiful, Utah to check out the possibility of seeing a green flash and noticed that the western sky was nicely colored by smoky air. The smoke was probably from the wildfires burning throughout the west, mainly one that was about 35 mi (56 km) southwest of my home. I went back in, grabbed my camera and stood in my driveway to take the photo. The Sun was setting over the southern end of the Great Salt Lake -- the mountain in the background is on Antelope Island.

The combination of crepuscular rays, fiery colors and glitter path on the lake's surface, all occurring at the same moment, made this is a most memorable sundown. Of course, the near perfect positioning of the mid-level clouds was critical to the composition. Sunsets (or sunrises) would not be nearly as brilliant as this one without clouds, or something such as dust or ash particles in the atmosphere, to scatter sunlight.

 Photo details: Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION; Camera Model: NIKON D80; 18-135 zoom (kit lens); Focal Length: 62.0mm (35mm equivalent: 93mm); Aperture: f/11.0; Exposure Time: 0.0005 s (1/2000); ISO equiv: 1600; Exposure Bias: none; Metering Mode: Matrix; White Balance: Auto; Light Source: Unknown; Flash Fired: No; Orientation: Normal; Color Space: sRGB; Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows.