After watching and photographing a lot of sunsets, it’s tempting to start thinking that you can look at the sky and predict how good a sunset will be a few hours before it happens.
You might see a bunch of thick and dark gray clouds up there, and think, “well, the sunset is gonna suck tonight, so I might as well just go home early.”
Or, you might even be in the middle of photographing a sunset and you think the colors just peaked, so you start packing up your stuff and walk towards your car or campsite.
But, then out of nowhere, the sky decides to explode with color again. Of course, you’re half way back to your car by now, so you quickly setup your camera, but before you can press the shutter button, the colors fade away again. And, this time they’re gone for good.
Sound familiar?
Don’t worry, it’s happened to me lots of times 
But, today I’m making a vow to never give up on a sunset again, and I hope you will too. No matter how dark and gray the sky looks, there’s always hope left in a sunset.
Okay, maybe the one exception here is if it’s pouring rain outside or completely overcast 30 minutes before sunset.. then it’s probably safe to say it’s gonna be a dud
Sometimes there’s that tiny break in the clouds that you just can’t see–and it’s just sitting there waiting to produce some of the most incredible colors. You just have to be patient.
For example, after I shot the photo above in the Mojave Desert, the colors in the sky started to fade to a dull gray. So, after the sun finally set and the sky turned completely gray, I thought the show was over.
But, it wasn’t. About five minutes later, a bunch of clouds started to turn purple and pink, so I quickly setup my camera again and was able to capture this shot before the show finally ended:
Lesson learned: never give up on a sunset!
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.”
–Galen Rowell
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About the Author: Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, computer scientist, and founder of PhotoNaturalist. You can usually find him hiking in the beautiful mountains and deserts of Southern California.
Great article Steve! Connection won’t let me repost to my page for some reason so I will watch for your repost in FB and then share! This one really hit home!!
Nicely said!
I toldly agree with you !
I live in a pretty big city in France, and one night it was supposed to be stormy. So I went to a roof, planning to capture some sparks, and in fact I ended up with a wonderful sunset and 2 keepers, that you can watch here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentbreillat/6172575296/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentbreillat/6172045715/in/photostream
Love the Rowell quote.
Steve:
Your blog post reminds me of a time I was in Niagara Falls on an observation deck. The photography club was out for a group shoot. In seconds the sky changed and became more intense with the orange light of sunset reflecting off of clouds and then changing color through the spectrum. You had to have your finger on the shutter button at the ready for the next shot. It reminded me of evolution happening in high speed. A short few minutes later the sun had one more go of light and things started to fade. I’m going to look for these shots and post them on my blog.
All the best Steve. This is a fantastic blog and I look forward to each publication
Jan
@Peggy – Thanks! Yeah, I had a similar problem, Facebook won’t let me post this link either! Don’t know what the problem is..
@Laurent – Great photos! Those clouds are incredible.
@Jan – thanks for your kind words and for sharing your great story
nicely said, Steve….
So true. Anytime I’ve planned to go out for a sunset, I’ve gone ahead out regardless of weather (except absolute rain). I’d rather catch nothing ten times than miss a rare dramatic once!
Yeah, Mother Nature like to play trick on us.
I usually set up my camera and wait until it’s dark. I’ve done this in Sedona and the Grand Canyon and wound up with great images, sometimes. It’s worth it to sit and wait it out to see what unfolds.
Have Fun,
Jeff
Love the tips Steve!!