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| Cottonball Clouds at Sunrise: They Floated over the Islands |
Sunrise or sunset at the ocean is a fabulous life experience. The golden hour light enhances any prime landscape location and a trip to Tonga is included. The morning clouds were a little of everything during my trip: overcast and grey, bland blue skies and partly cloudy. The partly cloudy skies are the best for photography as the clouds take on various hues of the rainbow and contrast well with the clear areas.
My lead photo was taken at the end of the trip when unusually tall clouds floated over the islands like marshmallows or cotton balls. They were beautiful and seemed like moving islands themselves.
The low angle of light also catches on the boats nearby for better yacht photos too.
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| Sailboats at the Golden Hour: a sure-fire successful photo |
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| Morning light catching an anchored sailboat |
I had better sunsets than sunrises. I can't say if Tonga is always that way but such was my experience. I had purples skies one night, orange another and some grey clouds on others. My orange sunset happened at Port Maurelle and the colors extended far on to the distant western isles. I shot this sunset with my longest lens and later stitched some panoramas together. Please enjoy.
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| A'a Island silhouette as seen from Kapa at Sunset |
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| Port Maurelle Sunset: Looking West |