Summer brings the monsoon rains to the high country of Colorado and with it the often unbelievable display of rainbows. Thunderstorms develop like clockwork almost every afternoon over the higher elevations of the mountains, followed by intense downpours and frequently stunning rainbows. But the attached rainbow was absolutely special: It was created unusually late in the day by the low, setting sun and therefore stretched low above the ground over a huge area across the entire Wet Mountains outside of Westcliffe/CO. Also, the colors were extremely clear and super iridescent unlike anything I (or any of my neighbors) have ever seen before. To capture this show of Nature I actually ended up shooting seven (!) single shots next to each other and merging them in post productions in Lightroom into one giant (distortion free) panorama. This rainbow was certainly the grand finale for that day and the best lightshow of the summer of 2017.

Gear:
Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm, B+W Pol filter

Settings:
Lens at 120mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 64