Last week smoke and ash from fires in western Canada made for some very unusual lighting conditions.

Driving around Strasburg, Pennsylvania, Kris and I observed the sun as red globe descending into a greyish evening sky. This seemed unworldly.

I wanted to capture this effect, and selected a location off Blackhorse Road, near where I’d photographed trains a couple of days earlier. This provided enough elevation to allow for a good view of the horizon.

To better capture the definition of the sun, I selected a small aperture (large ‘f’ number), and intentionally under exposed by about 2/3s of a stop.

To retain the reddish color, I set my white balance to ‘daylight’, otherwise the camera’s software would attempt to ‘balance’ the color and neutralize the unusual color created by refraction of the light in the atmosphere (the very effect I was hoping to capture).

Althought, this might seem contrary, I also, made a couple of photos using my Nikon Z6’s black & white modes.

Below are several examples . If you look closely at the englarged image of the sun you’ll see a sun spot.

Tracking the Light Looks Skyward!