Tornados
“In Overton, Nebraska, a tornado crossing the road and heading into a field.”
Sunday 20 December 2015
Clouds
Arcus Clouds
“An arcus cloud rolls by north of Kearney, Nebraska, August 9, 2011. This thunderstorm was severe warned at the time.”
Clouds
Lenticular Clouds
“This particular sunset lasted a good hour or more in late November in Boulder, Colorado. I was returning from a mountain biking trip and I saw the light begin to change slowly but in a special, almost strange kind of way and then I noticed the vast lenticular clouds that were beginning to catch on fire! I pulled off Route 93 and set up on the car hood (no tripod!) and then the light show began. The clouds were in place and then the light began to do its thing and changed from a yellow to slight orange then red then to purple as the sun set. But more than the colors, it was the clouds that were changing shape and the combination of changing light and ‘shape-shifter’ clouds created one of the most amazing light shows I have ever seen. I shot like crazy and managed to have quite a few keepers and some I have sold as custom-made fine art prints. There is a reason NCAR is located in Boulder as supposedly there is no other place in the lower 48 states that has such variety of atmospheric conditions to study. I was lucky that day. I always have a camera handy.”
awesome
Lightning
“This is a lightning storm over Brickell, Miami on Friday September 30, 2011. The change in weather has brought some extraordinary sunsets and weather patterns in the past few weeks. This was shot on a Nikon D700, 1 sec at f/7.1”
nice
Sailing Stones
“The Racetrack is an ancient dry lake bed in Death Valley, famous for its sailing stones. Located between the Last Chance Mountains and the Cottonwood Mountains, the Racetrack Playa lies at 3600′ above sea level, is about 3 miles long by 1 mile wide in size, and appears almost perfectly flat. Much of the year the Racetrack lakebed is totally dessicated and covered with small hexagonal mud patterns, although during the two rainy seasons that Death Valley experiences the playa becomes muddy and is sometimes ‘underwater’. At the south end of the Racetrack Playa are found the Racetrack’s famous ‘sailing stones’. Typically about the size of a shoe box or larger, the stones mysteriously move about the playa leaving trails behind them. Noone has actually observed any of the stones moving. One theory about their locomotion suggests that a combination of wet mud (during the winter rainy season) and high winds, perhaps combined with a thin layer of ice atop the mud, allows the stones to slide. Evidence indicates that the rocks move once every few years, and that tracks last only 4-5 years. My hunch is the occasions of the stones’ movement is a function of seasonal weather patterns and the presence or absence of sufficient water, wind and ice to trigger the sailing phenomenon.”
awesome
Desert Geysers
“These are the Hot Spring Geysers at Block Rock Desert, Nevada. Wind played havoc with the spray but after 2 days circling these unusal forms the weather settled and I was happy with the end result. What a wild place!”
Nice Clouds
Mammatus Clouds
“A typical storm came through Minnesota late one evening. It wasn’t very exciting, so I hadn’t gone out to get pictures of any lightning or wall clouds. Then all of a sudden I saw these clouds out the window. I grabbed my camera and ran out of the house (no tripod, no shoes even). All I could do was brace myself against a wall of the house and start shooting. They started out a very light yellow and proceeded through to this deep magenta. I managed to get just 10 pictures before the moment was gone.”
nature
Lake Bubbles
“Abraham Lake in the winter has to be one of the best kept secrets in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. A lot of people pass it on their rush from Banff to Jasper but never bother to take the turn on to Highway 11. It is such a beautiful area though! The lake is situated in a rain shadow area of the surrounding mountains and receives little snow in winter. These conditions keep the ice practically snow free. The ice is just perfect, filled with air bubbles and cracks as water levels drop over the winter time. When I took this shot, I was visiting the lake for the first time. The sun started to get lower on the horizon and the day was running close to its end when beautiful pastel pinks appeared in the sky. I had to move fast! Not having any cleats on my boots, it was very challenging to get down to the lake surface. Mix in a lot of wind and you can imagine me, being blown all over the lake’s icy surface. I sure had fun! If you are around during winter time, make sure to stop by this beautiful lake.”
Rainbow
Double Rainbow
“On a trip to photograph wildflowers near Crested Butte, Colorado, I had settled into a campsite nearby, and waited out a summer rainstorm under some trees. As the rain was tapering off, I spotted part of a rainbow through the trees, grabbed a camera and ran onto the dirt road in the foreground. I think the thing that makes this rainbow photo unusual is that the rainbow is so close to the ground, literally underneath the mountains in the background, not just up in the sky. So the rainbow is the photo, not just an element of it.”
Eruption
Volcanic Eruption
“On the 14th of April 2010, Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, this time from the top crater in the center of the glacier, causing melt water floods (also known as jökulhlaup) to rush down the nearby rivers, requiring 800 people to be evacuated. This second eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days. This image if from the 19th of April when the eruption was calming down quite a bit and the first signs of magma could be seen. I shot this through the open window of a small Cessna which I charted. I used my Nikon D3x with a 50mm f/1.4 lens shooting at f/2.0 and 1/250s. The light was disappearing fast and I was already up to ISO 6400. I continued shooting with my Nikon D3s and got usable stuff even at ISO 25600. You have got to love the the latest digital cameras and their low light performance. Only a few years ago I wouldn’t have dreamt about getting usable shots in these conditions.”
Borealis
Aurora Borealis
“I’ve viewed hundreds of displays of Aurora Borealis and although the technical process of photographing this spectacle isn’t overly difficult or challenging after you initially ‘figure it out’, I never fail to be inspired when I’m out there, in the cold and dark, shooting. Photography of the aurora is one way to force yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t ‘see’ the aurora that often; they don’t want to leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking ‘ah, they’re always out – why bother looking?’ which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.”
Aurora
Aurora Borealis
I’ve viewed hundreds of displays of Aurora Borealis and although the technical process of photographing this spectacle isn’t overly difficult or challenging after you initially ‘figure it out’, I never fail to be inspired when I’m out there, in the cold and dark, shooting. Photography of the aurora is one way to force yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t ‘see’ the aurora that often; they don’t want to leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking ‘ah, they’re always out – why bother looking?’ which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.”
Beautiful Star Trails
Star Trails
“This photo reflects 7 hours of star movement in the night sky above Mobius Arch in the Alabama HIlls near Lone Pine, California.”
hill
nature
Every now and then, we’re lucky enough to capture that natural rarity — the one that sparks our imagination and gives us a deeper appreciation for the world around us. Then there are the nature photographers who make it their mission to not simply catch the event, but also to create something that’s both striking and emotionally captivating. The following is a collection of some of the most incredible images of nature’s rarities that we’ve found among the PhotoShelter community.
Saturday 19 December 2015
bird
American Goldfinch
This handsome little finch, the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington, is welcome and common at feeders, where it takes primarily sunflower and nyjer. Goldfinches often flock with Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls. Spring males are brilliant yellow and shiny black with a bit of white. Females and all winter birds are more dull but identifiable by their conical bill; pointed, notched tail; wingbars; and lack of streaking. During molts they look bizarrely patchy.
bird
Cedar Waxwing
A treat to find in your binocular viewfield, the Cedar Waxwing is a silky, shiny collection of brown, gray, and lemon-yellow, accented with a subdued crest, rakish black mask, and brilliant-red wax droplets on the wing feathers. In fall these birds gather by the hundreds to eat berries, filling the air with their high, thin, whistles. In summer you’re as likely to find them flitting about over rivers in pursuit of flying insects, where they show off dazzling aeronautics for a forest bird.
bird
Northern Mockingbird
If you’ve been hearing an endless string of 10 or 15 different birds singing outside your house, you might have a Northern Mockingbird in your yard. These slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their color into their personalities. They sing almost endlessly, even sometimes at night, and they flagrantly harass birds that intrude on their territories, flying slowly around them or prancing toward them, legs extended, flaunting their bright white wing patches.
bird
Mourning Dove
A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America.
bird
Blue Jay
This common, large songbird is familiar to many people, with its perky crest; blue, white, and black plumage; and noisy calls. Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns is credited with helping spread oak trees after the last glacial period.
bird
Peregrine Falcon
Powerful and fast-flying, the Peregrine Falcon hunts medium-sized birds, dropping down on them from high above in a spectacular stoop. They were virtually eradicated from eastern North America by pesticide poisoning in the middle 20th century. After significant recovery efforts, Peregrine Falcons have made an incredible rebound and are now regularly seen in many large cities and coastal areas.
Osprey
Unique among North American raptors for its diet of live fish and ability to dive into water to catch them, Ospreys are common sights soaring over shorelines, patrolling waterways, and standing on their huge stick nests, white heads gleaming. These large, rangy hawks do well around humans and have rebounded in numbers following the ban on the pesticide DDT. Hunting Ospreys are a picture of concentration, diving with feet outstretched and yellow eyes sighting straight along their talons.
Red-tailed Hawk
This is probably the most common hawk in North America. If you’ve got sharp eyes you’ll see several individuals on almost any long car ride, anywhere. Red-tailed Hawks soar above open fields, slowly turning circles on their broad, rounded wings. Other times you’ll see them atop telephone poles, eyes fixed on the ground to catch the movements of a vole or a rabbit, or simply waiting out cold weather before climbing a thermal updraft into the sky.
Black-capped Chickadee
A bird almost universally considered “cute” thanks to its oversized round head, tiny body, and curiosity about everything, including humans. The chickadee’s black cap and bib; white cheeks; gray back, wings, and tail; and whitish underside with buffy sides are distinctive. Its habit of investigating people and everything else in its home territory, and quickness to discover bird feeders, make it one of the first birds most people learn.
Northern Cardinal
The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning.
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