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One of the things I love about mountains is the fantastic and varied weather conditions that are generated by the disturbed air masses as they swirl and fight over the peaks.
If you want day long sunshine to work on your tan then forget about coming to the high mountain regions of Austria. Here you'll get possibly every weather condition known to man, all in the space of half a day.
Liz and I were enjoying our evening meal on the balcony of our hotel room in Schladming, just watching the clouds form and break over the peaks of the Dachstein Massiv across the valley when this lenticular cloud grew over one of the high peaks. The sun had just set, but was still close enough to the horizon to light this high cloud and frame it with dark, lower clouds that were now in shadow.
We watched entranced as the light slowly faded from this aerial monolith, and the magnificent cloud slowly dissolved into nothingness.
It's a moment that will never be repeated. Isn't it great that we can remember it's beauty through the medium of a humble photograph.
Filename - cloud lenticular 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 100-400mm zoom @ 260mm
Exposure - 1/30sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Planai, Austria
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Tripod, mirror lockup and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
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