The weather forecast for the San Francisco Bay area is scattered rain and thunderstorms for the next few days. This weather pattern is really unusual weather for here at this time of year, so what is a photographer to do? Actually, it is a great opportunity for some amazing sunrises and sunsets. The most spectacular displays come when you can catch a sunrise or sunset coming in beneath a good cloud cover. I am always looking for a storm edge or a break in a storm.

So, how do you take advantage of these conditions? First, take a look at the weather. What direction is the storm system coming from? When is it predicted to hit the area? Next, think about where do you want to be when it comes through your area. Sorry but, an empty field with a great sunset is pretty boring. You need to think in terms of composition. What else will be going on in your image? Finally, you need to look at the times and locations of sunrise or sunset. Then, you can assemble all of the pieces.

Last Tuesday, I took a ride over to the coast to look for good locations. The sunset is at approximately 8:30pm at this time of year. The storms were unpredictable since they were just a series of small systems coming through at intervals, not a big front.

I spent about an hour scouting a series of locations along the coast before I settled on Pescadero State Park. There I stopped. It did not look promising. The sky was very clear and the horizon was a sharp as a knife. The sharp horizon meant that we would be able to see the sun all the way to sunset rather than what usually happens around here; the sun just disappears into a fog bank while still well above the horizon. The clear sky was not good. No clouds means no backdrop to catch the red and orange light from the setting sun and a much less interesting image.

It was still an hour and a half before sunset so I waited and scouted around. Before long I noticed a fantastic set of clouds forming to the south. After a while it became clear that the clouds were coming up in my direction. This looked very promising: The clouds at lower levels were round and dark while the clouds at higher levels were wispy and a very bright white.

I set up to shoot south along the coast with a point of rocks projecting out and the cloud formations in the background. Nice idea, but that is not how it turned out at all. The clouds moved much more quickly than I expected and were fully overhead by the time sunset arrived. The sunset was in a small clear window off to the northwest with a huge canvas of cloud cover to project color on. The result was a spectacularly colorful sunset. I had to change my angle and composition several times as the conditions changed.

The moral of the story: plan as much as you can and then be ready to throw your plan out the window and react quickly to the conditions you actually find.