Since IвЂ™m often shooting seascapes, IвЂ™ll message friends who work near the coast to get their read on the sky. Some of the most colorful sunsets IвЂ™ve experienced were when the sky was almost completely overcast but there was a small opening of clear sky for the sun to come through.ДЄlthough my office window faces west, I canвЂ™t actually see the horizon due to buildings blocking the view so I will sometimes go to the top of a nearby parking garage (10 stories high).ДЄnother option is to ping a photography friend who is in a better location.

I will also look for any breaks in the cloud cover where the sun could shine through. The peak color usually occurs perhaps 15-20 minutes before sunrise so that leaves you some time to get to your shooting location or decide if you want to go back to sleep.ДЇor sunset I will look at the horizon and judge the size and density of any clouds that might block the light. For sunrise you can often see the color starting to emerge well before the colors peak, perhaps as much as hour before the official sunrise time. My preference is to get a direct look at the horizon with my own eyes. I then consider wind speed and direction before making a decision. For short time-frame predictions, I try to get a direct read of the cloud cover based on current conditions. I use different methods for predicting whether the sunrise/sunset is going to be good depending on the lead time. Short Time Frame Predictions (0-4 hours beforehand) This will be difficult at first, but as you gain experience, it will become easier and you will make more accurate predictions. You will have to use your judgement about the cloud height and clearness of the horizon. There is another cloud in the distance that was too low for sunset color. Most of the cloud was not illuminated but the trailing edge was just high enough to catch the light as the sun dipped below the marine layer and horizon. In this last example, we have a cloud formation that is almost directly overhead of the shooting position. In the center of the frame, there are a few low clouds blowing in from offshore that were not high enough to catch any direct light. But we also have high wispy clouds that can still caught the sunlight colors. On the horizon, there is an extremely thick low-lying cloud layer that blocks the sun. In this third example, we have multiple cloud formations. This was one of the most overpowering sunsets IвЂ™ve experienced and I actually found it to be too colorful for my taste. As sun dipped below the horizon, it was able to ignite the sky through the wedge. In the next scene, the opening was the small bright wedge that you can see by the end of the pier. Sometimes the day can be completely overcast and gray, but if there is even a small opening in the clouds, the sky can explode at sunset. There are obviously varying degrees of both characteristics and they interact to either let the colors shine through or to block the sun.ДЇor example, in this next picture, although there is a marine layer (low clouds on the horizon), it was not dense enough nor high enough to prevent a spectacular sunset. Second, вЂњclearвЂќ and вЂњhighвЂќ are not binary attributes. For sunrise, I need to decide the night before whether IвЂ™m going to get up early and for sunset I need at least an hour of lead time for local shoots. First, we have to predict many hours in advance. However prediction gets complicated for multiple reasons. This leaves only the gorgeous warm yellows, oranges, pinks and reds to illuminate the underside of the clouds. As the light travels through the atmosphere, the blue light rays scatter more than when the sun is directly overhead. The ideal situation is that the sun is at or below the horizon and the light rays have a direct and unobstructed line of sight to the underside of the clouds in your composition.

A clear horizon so that the sunlight is not blocked.

High clouds to catch the sunвЂ™s rays as it rises/sets.In some ways, itвЂ™s simple and we need only two things: In this article, I will discuss how I predict the colors for sunrise & sunset as well as link to the various tools that I use to inform my predictions.ДЇirst, lets talk about what we need to get those colorful skies. Or perhaps you thought there wasnвЂ™t much potential and started driving home only to be stuck on the interstate when the colors exploded. IвЂ™m sure weвЂ™ve all had the experience of thinking that the sunset was going to be great only to have the colors fizzle out. The holy grail for landscape photographers is to be able to accurately predict sunrise and sunset colors.

Which way does the sunrise