On Friday, the day after the thunderstorm, the clouds started to gather towards sunset, and looked promising, so I walked over to Canada Place to see what would happen.
Most of the sunset was relatively unimpressive -- although the Lions Gate Bridge was beautifully lit up by the golden light, it was too far away from here to make for an interesting photograph. However, the position of the clouds made it possible that the sun would light them up from below briefly, as it reaches or even passes below the horizon.
This was taken about five minutes after the sun had set, from my vantage point, but the last rays caught the underside of the clouds and lit them up for just a minute or two, and I took the opportunity to grab this shot, looking west towards the Convention Centre, with the seaplane terminal at the right.
About 30 seconds after I took this shot, the light had gone, and a minute or two later it began to rain.
I used a 3-stop graduated ND filter here to control the brightness of the sky. Looks stunning viewed large!
I'm a British software developer and photographer living in Vancouver, BC. I mainly photograph landscapes, cityscapes, night scenes, and water.
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So lovely. I have been looking at ND filters wondering whether or not to get one, all the reading up I've done has just left me confused! We also do not have a wide range available. The other confusing thing is whether to get a variable one offering a 1.5 - 9 stop Exposure Reduction or a solid one, either a 4 stop or an 8 stop.
Those clouds, dramatic in themselves, really balance the composition. It always amazes me that the reflections are always a different colour in situations like this. I'm sure I should be able to explain the physics behind that!
