Passing rain storm in the city

We had a warm front move through New York this past week leaving considerable rain and very fast moving clouds as it dissipated just after sunset. I was fortunate enough to have a good vantage point for the sunset and all of lower Manhattan and the Hudson River.

Normally I would shoot a subject like this by making several passes with a camera. With the clouds moving so rapidly, however, the scene was changing significantly with every frame I took. So I decided to take the photo in one shot. For this I chose the high, 36mp, Nikon D810 camera, figuring this would provide me with the largest sharp image in one take.

As I mentioned, the scene was changing rapidly, so I ended up with several different interpretations of the event:

First a black and white shot with a deep, dramatic sky that opened up to light the Hudson River.

Second was a vertical color shot with crisp, eerie light falling on the Flatiron Building with the World Trade Center and lower Manhattan behind it. For this image, rain water was still shiny in the streets,and the shutter speed was fast enough to stop most of the action from pedestrian and automobile traffic.

Last was a night time shot of the city. Normally, by the time this shot would be taken the sky would be black. Instead there was a red glow on the clouds and blue cast to the sky, all while the city lights were bright enough to record.