Picture of the week

Smoky Parkway Morning

The American River Parkway in the morning as enveloped by smoke from the many wildfires currently burning in California.   The photographic coverage here spans the area between the Hazel and Sunrise bridges of the Parkway east of Sacramento.

Photographed on the morning of 8/23 with the use of a drone.  Such smoke as this tends to soften the lighting, creating a more ethereal look to captured images.  It also dims the sun enough to avoid blowing out the exposure that one would normally have when including it or its direct reflection in your composition. My original plan was to start the photography just after sunrise, but because the layer of smoke was so dense, the lighting looked too flat.  Only until the sun got high enough to start adding a warm glow to the landscape did I decide to start the photography (at about 8 AM).