Urban Legand? Photo

Photographer’s Note

An old photo for today's post.
This is the sun rising over the lake Onatrio on a warm August day with the silhoutte of Toronto donwtown on the horizon. I also tried to capture the gradient of sky changing from the red at the horizon and blue at top. Lake ontario looks a bit frozen due to the slow shutter speed.

Urban Legend?: Pollution colours the sky
Another thing that you should also consider while watching this sky is that this colouration is caused by the deeply reddened sun shining from below the horizon onto a high stratum of dust particles and aerosols. So now can you also see all the pollution over the big city of Toronto.

What I have written above is very far from the truth. It was just to arose your emotions, and to remind you guys that sometimes it is a good idea to confirm the facts and not act from the emotions.

It is often said that dust and anthropogenic pollution causes brilliant hues of colours at dawn and dusk. But I wonder why the large cities—such as NYC, London, Mexico City or New Delhi are not celebrated as mecca for surises/sunset colours.

BACKGROUND
1. The colours we see in the sky are the result of scattering, refraction, and diffraction of sunlight by particles in the atmosphere, especially small particles such as air molecules.
2. Particles smaller than the wavelength of visible electro magnetic spectrum, cause greater selective scattering than the bigger particles.
3. Shorter wavelengths of Violet and Blue get scattered more than the longer wavelengths of Red and Orange.

Farther the light travels through the atmosphere, the redder it becomes. Blue light is always scattered the most due to its short wavelenght, but during sunset and sunrise, all of blue light gets scattered at the horizon and this causes only yellow, orange or red light to reach the ground.

The overall scattering produced by most of the pollutants in the urban smog is not strongly wavelength-dependent. The pollutants are much bigger than the wavelengths of colours in the visible light and scatter all the colours. This subdues the colours reaching the observer dramatically. The vibrant oranges and reds of clean atmosphere give way to pale yellows and pinks when pollutants fill the air.

In a nutshell: Pollution can cause the brilliant hues at sunrise and sunset but most of the times this is not the case.

PS: Just wanted to share some scientific trivia with today's post. I just could not write a note simpler than this explaining the phenomenon, Please forgive me if it was too much and correct me if you think I missed something.

shirgold, danielswalsh, Paolo, PixelTerror, digi-mom, weswang, fayeulle, riclopes, capthaddock, john_c, Tue, Emile, jhm, apache, jbweasle, HNIK, designsoul, remcos, Jeppe, timleahy, Rushabh, rabani, cherryripe, pamastro, Loeina, aznegrao, ktanska has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

fkk (1806) 2005-11-08 2:31

Merhaba Sarju;
süper colors, süper photo, excellent capture, wonderfull composition
i like the view
well done

renklerin güzelligi ve kompozisyonun bir harika cekim acisi ne kadar güzel, renkler sanki bir rüya alemine süsleyen tablo gibi güzel görünüyor etkileyici fotografindan dolayi tebrik ediyorum
bravooo

catman-fatih

[2]

cengiz (3581) 2005-11-08 2:36

Hi again sarju
amazing picture congragulation
cengiz

partha (13667) 2005-11-08 2:39

The pic is so calm, the colour tone is nice.Only positioning horizon at the middle may be avoided.

shirgold (2439) 2005-11-08 2:39

Hi Sarju,
I like the simple and 'clean' composition
Note is excellent.
TFS - Shir

danielswalsh (13330) 2005-11-08 3:01

I have to admit, it was the title that got me curious about this one.
Anything to do with the movie "Urban Legend"? I doubt it.. haha
Interesting write up... very in depth!
I like the shot, but I think it would have more impact if you were to crop out the bottom 1/2 of the water in the shot and about 30% in from the right hand side. Thus making the photo conform (oh no.... conform, I normally hate that word.)... make the photo conform a bit more to the rule of thirds.
Just my opinion- I think it would make it a bit better.

All the best,
- Dan

Paolo (40755) 2005-11-08 4:26

Hi Sarju...what a wonderful image!
your collection of Toronto views is fantastic!
great colors and light, a fantastic POV and excellent focus.
thanks, ciao

PixelTerror (86853) 2005-11-08 4:38

Hi Sarju,
I find this remote PoV very attractive to shoot the Toronto skyline, because the lake surfcace seems frozen due to the long exposure and also the sience-fiction dimension of the skyline is very well transmitted from there. Adding the splendid colors, well it's just excellent, my congratulations !
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

greg64g (11193) 2005-11-08 6:14

Hi Sarju

I remind the previous picture you posted, this one is very superb too with this so great colors.
Thanks to share
Greg

UlfE (9180) 2005-11-08 14:37

Hello Sarju,

A really beautiful shot. Excellent colors and composition.

Ulf

fayeulle (26547) 2005-11-08 16:50 [Comment]

Show Comment +

weswang (18223) 2005-11-09 10:28

Hi sarju, You have done a great job to smooth out the wave on the lake, which provides a feeling of on the top of cloud. Nice capture of the sun rise colors and the city skyline together with the city lights. A beautiful shot.

feather (50154) 2005-11-09 10:35

Beautiful! The colour is so spread out. You certainly succeeded in your intention to capture the gradations on colours. Well done
Kath

cessy (13647) 2005-11-09 13:42

very beautiful, Sarju
the colors are awesome, beautiful cityscape
I like the slow speed effect very much, very well done

toni_al (15476) 2005-11-09 13:58

Salut Sarju
Très joli lumière sur la ville, un très joli cadrage egalement.
Nice shot
Toni

riclopes (33135) 2005-11-10 3:31

Hi Sarju,
Fantastic image! I love the dark skyline of Toronto in the background. The sunrise lighting is wonderful making a feast of colours in the sky and the way the lake seems frozen it's just marvellous! This is a very good caputure. Congratulations.
Thanks,
All the best,

Ricardo

capthaddock (28640) 2005-11-10 10:19

Hi Sarju - fantastic colours and skyline, I like the dreamy blur below from the long exposure, and the gradual colour tones in the sky, excellent note as well.

john_c (24635) 2005-11-10 10:35

Hi Sarju,
A simple but very alluring shot. I agree with Dan about the cropping, but the photo is very successful as it is. The verious layers of colour hues here is entrancing and effective. The ambience is conveyed very well - and I love your note. Great capture, Sarju.
John

Tue (25608) 2005-11-10 18:43

Hej Sarju,
Wonderful shot with the skyline of Toronto. The colours in the sky are gorgeous and I like the warm-cold contrast. The shot has some kind of winter atmosphere, well you mention self already the frozen look of the lake. Very well captured and thanks for sharing!
Hilsner,
Lars

chaity (1539) 2005-11-10 22:34

Hai Sarju, lovely color for this photo. The sky color especially from orange to blue.
Somehow, the skyline is in the middle of the photo. For me, I will have more sky than the sea.

poulinp (4464) 2005-11-10 22:39

Hi Sarju.

These times, in my photograph club, we regularly receive the visit of photographer of reputation, professionals, who criticize our photographs in very constructive ways. And here what he would say of this one (we had similar). He would declare that you were too far. Indeed, the subject is what? The city? However, the detail is not distinguished because we are too distant. The horizon is directly in the center. It would have perhaps been interesting to make a composition 4/5, and to position the city in the bottom of the photograph, and thus to put the accent on the splendid colour gradation. Here is the kind of thing we learn over there, and I will try to share the best of it than I can, but that remains often a question of opinion!

regards,
Pascal.

Emile (20127) 2005-11-11 0:39

Hola Sarju.
Great picture, beautiful sunrise with the view of Toronto skylines. The colours are superb and the composition is excellent. The lake looks so quite and i congratulate you with this interesting note.
Well done. TFS.

t0mmm1 (5434) 2005-11-11 3:17

Hi Sarju,
wowowowowowwowow. This is great. I simply love this kind of shot... silhouettes and evening sky colours. What a feeling. But most of all I like the tower that makes the atmosphere even more mystical. TFS

jhm (83352) 2005-11-11 7:23

Hi Sarju,
You have a excellent description of your picture, thank for interesting background information. A very wonderful picture, splendid of colour and very sharp and clear, maybe a little bit cropped to sky for in proportion 1/3 and 2/3.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a nice weekend,
John.

Stepan (27175) 2005-11-13 11:37

The light is simply perfect ! It's very impressive.
Your frame is OK to figure the place out.
Good composition.
Stéphane

dvlazar (6488) 2005-11-19 4:54

I will be going here soon! But the photo is very inspiring and the note... well it doesnt lack any detail thats for sure.
Cheers!

apache (1426) 2005-11-22 2:59

Phew Sarj...Some picture and some note..! Nicely taken shot and well written note. You have done some really good research to go along with this shot. Wonderful. (Or is your work along the same lines?)
Love the colours of the sky with the expanse of the sea.
Nicely taken
Ranjith

jbweasle (9294) 2005-11-22 15:02

Hello Sarju, this is a wonderful evening shot. I love the silky smooth quality to the image, achieved with your long exposure. The skyline is a superb silhouette and so obviously Toronto with the CN Tower head and shoulders above the other buildings. Of course, the colours are great too.

HNIK (1104) 2005-11-23 10:00

Hi Sarju!
Thanks a lot for inform me about this picture.It's so great and nice shot with amazing spectrum and silhouette of Toronto,with it's wonderful tower,very nice colors and well composed with the lake,congratulation.I'm happy to see it,too.
and thanks for your interesting and useful note,(do you have shukran word in indian language?or it's an arabian word?? :)in persian language we say (tashakor,mamnoon,mersi=Thanks) :)
and thanks again
Best Wishes

designsoul (21394) 2005-11-25 16:21

Fantastic shot of TO, Sarju, the best I have ever seen! The 8 seconds were well worth the wait ;-), I will have to try this long exposure sometime too...
But really, the shot is wonderful, very nicely seen panorama of TO... congrats,
Sarolta

remcos (707) 2005-11-27 14:50

Hello Sarju,

What a great full colour setting.
Very nice picture.
Well done.

And your note is very could thanks for the explanation.

regards re[]v[]co

recepyuksel (17786) 2005-11-28 5:44

long expsure works are my favorits.
this one is splendid
tfs

jafadabret (40325) 2005-11-28 14:35

C'est curieux cet effet de givre sur l'Ontario qui est dû au temps de pose. La photo est très belle et les couleurs du ciel sont en dégradés jusqu'au bleu. Bonne maîtrise du temps de pose et donc de la lumière.

Jeppe (18623) 2005-11-30 17:39

Hi Sarju - A truly amazing and different skyline view - I like the fine shift of colours and the great strong colours you got here. The 50/50 split well chosen and gives us a good image to watch.
Thanks for sharing.

timleahy (2189) 2005-11-30 19:45

Wow! thanks for the science bit Sarju - I 100% agree too. I have seen wonderful sunrises/sunsets in remote parts of Ireland with no air pollution.

Excellent shot, great colour on the horizon. I like the scaling of the image.

...tim

Rushabh (389) 2005-12-01 0:02

Great colors! This is one of those pics that can be a poster in the living room. The sharpness is pretty good too!

rabani (9429) 2005-12-06 1:35

I loved your note a little bit more than your landscape Sarju. Especially knowing that oranges and red is a good sign. I will see sunrise and sunset in a different way from now on. Your photo is a good representation of your note. A lot more about colors than the cityscape itself.

Pattyjy (2180) 2005-12-14 7:35

Salut Sarju.
La lumière et les couleurs sont grandioses. Félicitations.
Amitié, Patty.

cherryripe (19187) 2005-12-15 15:55

Hi Sarju
What a strange contrast between the cold foreground that looks so wild and frozen and the warm light over the city. The CN tower looks stunning. It's nice with the layer of blue sky overhead. I like the touch of the 2 stars.
Regards Nikki

ballyna (1689) 2006-01-11 14:32

sarju,
very nice colors here,and the horizon is well placed in the cadrage.the gradient is so well seen,
regards

Roly (1960) 2006-01-12 20:45

Nice view and great intro into the physics of sunsets. The colors are beautiful and Toronto's skyline is always good for a picture. I would keep the same format but remove the rather uninteresting right and bottom third of the image. This would increase the size of the city silhouette and improve the composition.

sergio1 (12150) 2006-01-17 5:10

Hola otra vez,
Espectacular sky line de Toronto. Colores espectaculares y la puesta de sol muy acertada.
Muy buen trabajo
Sergio

dsolarov (422) 2006-02-13 17:08

Hi Sarju,
This is a nice view of Ontario Lake and Toronto in fantastic colours I've never seen myself. Maybe because I am never at that side of the lake at sunrise. Beautifully captured in your photo!!! Thank you for sharing.
Dragana

rakeshgupta (2670) 2006-02-22 12:12

Great capture. The colorful sky at horizon is amazing. The capture of morning light bulbs are lovely.
Very good composition.
- Rakesh

aznegrao (10246) 2006-03-24 17:30

Wowww Sarju!!!wonderfull textures and colors!!
Me agrada muito a sensação de amplitude e as cores luminosas.
Greetings.
aznegrao.

ktanska (16695) 2006-05-24 5:42

Hi Sarju,
I'm glad to see that Toronto has clean air. It's an impressive skyline even from the distance. I wonder if larger aperture and shorter exposure would have given more realistic appearance to the water.
Thanks again about the sunset colours note!
Kari