Yellowstone

This shot was taken in Yellowstone National Park near the end of our trip. Storms moved through the region all afternoon and evening, and we saw four or five rainbows in different locations as we drove along. As the sun neared the horizon, we pulled over and parked the car near a beautiful meadow. The kids listened to music in the car, while Jay and I took a few shots. We were rather glad that the sky didn't do this every evening - with the kids along, we wouldn't have been able to shoot regularly.

I shot with a GND filter (click here for a brief explanation of GND filters) - but no polarizer. The GND let me capture the detail in both the shadows on the ground and the highlights in the sky. I nearly always use a GND filter to shoot sunrise and sunset. The dynamic range is simply to broad to be captured otherwise. In some cases, I use a circular polarizer when I'm photographing water. The polarizer cuts through glare and reflection, and allows me to see beneath the water. In this case, I wanted to see the colorful reflection in the water. And, you can't shoot a rainbow with a circular polarizer. The rainbow will disappear. :)