[/caption] One of my favorite things to admire the most is a beautiful display of clouds either directly overhead or in the distance. You would think that this is one of the easiest subjects to photograph, especially since there are always ample amounts of clouds throughout the world at any given time. However, I find that they can be very elusive and somewhat camera shy. This mostly is because I am somewhat of a cloud snob. I can only settle for the absolute most fantastic cloud formation whenever I decide to photograph them. This is especially true since the sun and clouds must be in the perfect position. Normally I try to have something in the background but I’ve decided that its sometimes best to just frame an entire photo with nothing but a cloud formation. Spring and early summer seems to be the best times to find some unbelievable cloud formation in the Northwest. Between the Cascade mountains, the Coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean, you are always amazed with some of the clouds we can get. However, finding the best place and position to photograph them is another story. To get this shot I was using my Canon EOS T1i along with my Tokina 12-24mm wide angle lens. On this day I was driving throughout parts of Washington County trying to find the best place to get a shot worth saving. The sky, sun and clouds were perfect. However, I couldn’t find a good spot to take advantage of this spectacular day. I was finally able to find a spot that I liked and this photo is a testament to that. I try to avoid any sun spots without losing any of the whites and gray’s co-mingling. I also try to ensure that the blueness of the sky is enhanced against the clouds. I also try to ensure that there isn’t one giant cloud formation that dominates the frame. I think it’s better when there are several clouds that seem to be moving in unison but starting to split up. I didn’t have the patience to set up my tripod so I had to be sure to keep my hand steady in order to avoid any camera shake or blur since I was using both my warming and CIR-PL filter. This is also true since I had the ISO at 100 and the white balance at +1.7. I was delighted since I thought that for sure that they would be blurry. I had the camera mode in Program/Normal so the aperture was automatically set at F10 and 1/200 second. The sun was in the west and moving pretty fast since this photo was taken on 4/13/10 and the time was 3:30pm. Those of us that live in the Pacific Northwest know that the sun sets pretty fast in early spring. Fair weather cloud formations can really create a positive emotion so I hope that this offers that same emotion to those who see it. Cheers!