Fire in the clouds over the Tetons

A passing storm cleared just enough at sunset to let a narrow band of light through, turning the underside of the clouds into fire above the already-dark peaks. Ten minutes earlier or later and this band of color wouldn’t have existed — the whole show lasted only a few minutes before the clouds closed back up.

Getting the shot

An HDR blend held the extreme range between the glowing clouds and the near-black silhouetted rock. I kept the mountains themselves nearly black in the edit rather than lifting them, since the contrast is what sells the drama.