Exploding Sky, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

We’ve had some fantastic weather in Park City this week. Thursday evening was another lesson learned but with a good outcome.

You can’t predict the weather. But, as a photographer, you get to know the patterns and probabilities. Case in point, early Thursday evening it looked like all the potential for a fantastic sky show at sunset. There were heavy, but broken, clouds throughout the sky. A good time to be out and about – tripod and camera bag in tow.

But as the evening went on, it darkened. Rather than going by my photographer’s instinct, I chose to spend the evening at home.

As the 8:58 p.m. sunset approached, it was dark – very dark. I felt good about my decision. Then, literally minutes before sunset, it broke – in a very big way!

The western sky opened up and the sun’s rays pierced the darkness, illuminating everything in sight. The pitch dark eastern sky opened up in a blaze of color.

I had scouted a photo earlier across the street from our home. The old water tower is often a willing subject, as I had learned during grandson Zach’s photography classes in high school.

Knowing I had only seconds to capture a scene, I ran to the car and sprinted the 30 seconds to the shoot location. There was no time to engage the tripod, so I drew on a lesson I learned from my favorite HDR practitioner – open the lens and shoot with a higher shutter speed.

I banged off series after series of three-shot/one-stop bursts before the sun climbed above the grass. I then quickly setup the tripod for a few more as the sun slipped into darkness.

Then, it was back to the house to watch the results materialize in Photomatix.

While the later shots on the tripod offered a better sky, the brilliant green grass helped to frame a stunning photograph.

Via Flickr:
A storm filled sky explodes in color at sunset above a water tower in Silver Creek near Park City, Utah. (c) 2011 Tom Kelly