Sunset Through the Smoke

The sun sets through a smoky haze, as seen from our front yard recently.

The sunset on this particular day looked slightly eerie, due to the sky conditions. But that wasn’t fog. And it wasn’t even the occasional summer haze that we sometimes get.

That “haze” was smoke from wildfires. And no, we haven’t had any wildfires in our area, at least not that I know of. No, these wildfires were in Canada. Yes, Canada - the country a thousand miles or so to our north. So those must have been some big wildfires. I did see a photo from a weather satellite that showed the smoke stretching all the way from there to here, if that gives you any indication of the size of the fires.

And yes, I know that wildfires can be good for areas, except for the people that live near those areas. So hopefully the fires were serving nature’s purpose without causing too many problems for anyone. Because all those wildfires did make for an interesting sunset for those of us far, far away.

Yes, this was a slight break from the Burnsland World Tour photos. But don’t worry - there are still lots and lots more of those!

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. - Psalm 97:1-3

About the photo:
This photo is actually a 5-exposure HDR, which I haven’t done in a while. And in fact, this was the first one where I used Lightroom’s new Merge to HDR function instead of using Photomatix. I was happy with how it turned out.
HDR from five RAW exposures (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2), processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8