I was thinking the other evening that I need to watch more sunsets this summer. What Michigan summer resolution would you make?
Thomas caught this great photo of a young couple watching the sunset on Grand Traverse Bay. View it bigger and see more in his 6/1/16-6/3/16: Grand Traverse & Leelanau slideshow.
The best rainbow I’ve ever seen last night over Frankfort, photo by Noah Sorensen
Atmospheric Optics from the UK is far and away the best website for rainbow science as well as other atmospheric optical phenomena. Regarding primary rainbows as seen in Noah’s photo from Frankfort, they say:
To see a rainbow we need sunshine and falling rain. Rainbows are rarer than might be thought … Halos occur much more frequently.
Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to see them because the sun must not be too high. Rainbows are always opposite the sun and their centres are below the horizon at the the antisolar point. The lower the sun the higher is the bow.
Red is always outermost in the primary bow with orange, yellow, green and blue within. Occasionally, when the raindrops are small, fainter supernumerary arcs of electric greens, pinks and purples lie just inside the main bow.
A rainbow is not just a set of coloured rings. The sky inside is bright because raindrops direct light there too. The primary bow is a shining disk brightening very strongly towards its rim.
View Noah’s photo background bigilicious, see more in his slideshow, and be sure to follow him on Instagram!
Lots more rainbow information and more summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!
Spectacular Display, photo by Bob Gudas
Bob took this shot of a photographer on Grand Haven’s North Pier with more guts or maybe less sense than most. I bet his photo was pretty sweet though!
View it bigger and see more in his slideshow.
Niciclez, photo by Noah Soreson
Beautiful scene on the Lake Michigan shore. Here’s hoping you have a chance to get out there and have some fun this weekend!
View Noah’s photo background bigilicious, see more in his slideshow. and be sure to follow him on Instagram.
More winter wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Promise Fulfilled, photo by Heather Higham
Although I just featured a sunset photo by Heather … Wow!
She took this last night and writes: A break at the horizon that spouted god rays all afternoon hinted a the potential for a lightshow at sundown. We were not disappointed, though we were very cold.
View the photo bigger, see more in her Sunsets slideshow, and follow Heather at Snap Happy Gal Photography on Facebook.
Click for more about the Frankfort Pier Lights and a super cool winter photo by Jason Lome.
Celebratory Sunset, photo by Heather Higham
For the tenth anniversary of Michigan in Pictures last week, I asked for the 200+ fans needed to take the Michigan in Pictures Facebook past the 10,000 fan milestone. With your help, it’s blown way past that mark – thank you all so much for your support!!!
View Heather’s photo from Empire Beach in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore bigger, see more in her Winter slideshow, and definitely follow her at Snap Happy Gal Photography on Facebook for much more.
More Michigan in Pictures milestones in the archives.
The Night’s Watch, photo by Jiqing Fan
Of this stunning photo from back in October at Miners Castle in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Jiqing Fan writes:
Winter is coming! The night’s watch of the North guard the last bit of colors against the white walkers (snow storm) approaching.
It appears that the Watch did its job and turned back winter 2016! View his photo bigger and see more in his Houghton & UP MI slideshow.
Lots more about Miners Castle on Michigan in Pictures!
Mackinac Wake, photo by Bill Johnson
Bill took this photo in May of 1987 and writes:
We had been out to the island and were returning via ferry when the captain announced a slight detour in our route. There was some kind of a special group aboard and as a treat, our boat went under the Mighty Mac, something they hardly ever do. It was pretty neat. The five mile long bridge is no longer the longest suspension bridge in the world, but to me it’s still the prettiest. I’ve personally seen several other suspension bridges, including the Golden Gate, and I’ll pick the Mac every time.
View his photo background big and see more in his Michigan slideshow.
Lots more of the Mighty Mackinac Bridge on Michigan in Pictures!
Sunset, photo by Kevin Povenz
If you’re looking to get the perfect sunset, you might want to check out the sunset forecast from Sunset WX. They explain (in part) their model for sunset forecasts:
…we understand there are numerous definitions for the criteria: Vivid, average, and poor. However, as a landscape photographer, there are certain variables I look for each evening before making the decision to take time out of my day and photograph the sunset. The most important factor I look for is sky cover, and more specifically, the existence of high clouds over the area. High clouds not only provide moisture to refract the sunlight, their ‘wispy’ formation also provides “texture” to the sky and are high enough in the atmosphere for the sun to scatter light below. Think of these as a movie theatre screen, in which light can be projected upon.
Because of this, we weighted high clouds the most as stated before, and consider this necessary for a “Vivid” sunset. In general, regions that are displayed “Poor” in the model, are areas of near 100% of total cloud cover, and also areas that are projected to experience precipitation around sunset time. The ‘hard to define’ area comes in between the two. To some, a clear sky at the time of sunset may be the definition of a great one. In this model, it is our intent to weight a clear sky sunset as average, and therefore it would show up as green or light yellow. The oranges and reds are really the areas where we are trying to show that the sunset will be one of those that makes you go ‘Wow’.
Click through to check out the live sunset forecast map – it’s pretty cool!
Kevin took this photo back in December of 2012 at “The Bend Area” in Ottawa County on the Grand River near Jenison. View it bigger and see lots more in his Sunrise/Sunset slideshow.
Lots more great Michigan sunsets on Michigan in Pictures!
Sea Cave on Lake Superior, photo by Craig
The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore geology page says (in part) that:
During the Nipissing “high stand,” Chapel Rock and Miners Castle as well as many less prominent features (such as perched sea caves near Little Beaver Lake Campground) were carved into the Cambrian sandstone by wave action.
Quite the whittling job by Gitche Gumee!
View Craig’s photo bigger on his Facebook page and see more jaw-dropping Lake Superior pics on Craig’s Flickr.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Michigan in Pictures 