Wildcat Peak Sunset, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

I went for a walk at twilight, hoping to clear my head after the excitement of the last few weeks. Sea-born clouds and fog were ramping quickly into the coastal range, so I didn’t have too much hopes for photography. Still, I brought my photo gear, because you never know.

Turning the corner on the trail, I got a view of Wildcat Peak with the disk of the setting sun visible above it. By the time I got my camera out and was in position, the sun had vanished in the fog. I held on to the bitter end. The sun appeared, setting behind the peak, at the last.

I took care to expose for the sun itself, letting the foreground go dark (because I know I could fix this in the digital darkroom, and I didn’t want the sun to blow out). Fix or no fix, much of the drama of this photo is in the contrast between the setting sun and the dark hillside.

[Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR zoom lens at 200mm (300mm in 35mm terms), 1/400 of a second at f/7.1 and ISO 100, handheld, image stabilization engaged.]