Why clouds makes the best Sunset in Nevada!

Thunderstorm off in the distance. The clouds bring in the Blues, Yellows, Pinks, and everything between!

Lack of clouds make a sunset very "blah". nothing to look at and makes it not an eye catching image.

So I have been living here in the middle a high desert for about 2 years and it has been a huge learning curve for trying to find things to photograph.  It's not like the mountains or the beach or any thing that you have ever seen before. It's flat, hot, cloudless skies, and has not a tree in sight for miles. So with that all being said the sunsets are hit and miss at best. With the lack of clouds in the sky and nothing really interesting in the fore ground, it's just a blue sky with a sun in it...... YA for nothing interesting! (insert sarcasm here)  So when ever a storm comes into the area I am the first one that grabs my bag of gear, run out the door, jump in the car and head to some place that would make a great sunset shot. 

More Clouds bring in more things to look at. Wispy clouds are rare here.

    
What I look for in a sunset is some sort of clouds. if the shot has some sort of object that is in the blue sky, it makes the image more eye catching. Also, it makes the colors pop out more. With cloudless sky, normally you will get a nice blue sky with a yellowish color where the sky and the ground meet(photo above for example). When you have clouds in that same sky, it brings out more color and makes the sky just more interesting compared to a blank sky(Image below). The sunset with some sort of Clouds are more pleasing to the eye than a cloudless sunset. Yes, the cloudless sunset is very different, but its boring if you have nothing in the foreground to bring life to the image. Interesting clouds like "wispy clouds" are a rare find here in Nevada. So if you ever get a chance to photograph them.... DO IT! However, when you get a chance to photograph a storm, well that is when everything comes out and just makes the sky come to life. Brings a fiery red and orange to the blue sky and just makes things look amazing! (First Image on the page for Example) It has so many colors and so much character in the image. It's like a 90 year old man. A man that has seen, done, explored, and experienced so much. 

A sunset shot that over looks a Grass field.

        What I look for in a Nevada sunset is clouds. Without clouds you will get a  boring sunset that lacks that "X" factor. Clouds will either make or break an image.  What makes the Best sunsets for me is a storm! Any type of storm in Nevada is just something to watch. It can be either a Thunder storm, wind storm, Dust storm, lighting or anything really because the weather here never comes in gently. It comes in hard and fast and provides a show that is always worth watching. Well, I hope you can go out and take this info and adapt it to your neck of the woods. A boring sky with nothing going on is rare but when it happens all the time it's just another cookie in the cookie jar. So be different and look for that "X" factor. be different, and get out there and shoot away!

A thunder storm rolling in and as you can see am shooting away from the sun but it brings out all the color of the sky