Rainbow over Gourdon

Urias E. Takatohi, on April 26, 2008, said:

What a rare angle for a complete rainbow!

GDavidson, on May 2, 2008, said:

Thank you Urias,

It was the first time I had ever been up this hill, which is local to me, and to have seen this happen was quite awe-inspiring. I don't usually carry a fisheye lens with me but I was glad I did that day! (that's why the horizon is curved)

Geo Gecko, on May 4, 2008, said:

What can I say... definately an awe-inspiring image. Right place... right time.

Well done..!

GDavidson, on May 5, 2008, said:

Thank you Geo Gecko!

KasiaD, on May 5, 2008, said:

Wow, what an amazing double or secondary rainbow! Yes, awe-inspiring! Also very unusual to get more than 180°! Congratulations! Right time, right place, right camera equipment, right action;-) Did you notice that the colours of the primary and secondary rainbows are in opposite order (red, yellow, green blue, etc.) and that the section between the two is much darker? Sorry, for being such a clever clogs but this phenomenon fascinates me and didn't see get to see it that often. Kasia

GDavidson, on May 5, 2008, said:

Thanks Kasia!

I noticed the dark sector but certainly hadn't realised the rainbow colours were reversed on the outer ring, which is certainly an interesting phenomenon! Thanks for pointing that out!

Urias E. Takatohi, on May 7, 2008, said:

Yes KasiaD! And in this picture you can notice the brighter central area, the Alexander dark band you mentioned and some supernumerary arcs below the main arc. e.g. see http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/adband.htm

KasiaD, on May 7, 2008, said:

Urias. I didn't know the story about Alexander. Thanks. Kasia

Paolo Bottarelli, on May 18, 2008, said:

Great pic and great gallery. VOTED!

Greetings from Parma, Italy

Paolo -MY CONTEST-

GDavidson, on May 18, 2008, said:

Thank you Paolo for your vote and very kind feedback about my gallery! You have wonderful pictures in your gallery too!

Jessica G., on June 5, 2008, said:

What an amazing rainbow! I'm glad you were in the right place at the right time to show us this! Yellow star.

GDavidson, on June 6, 2008, said:

Thank you Jessica G!

It was certainly an extraordinary bit of luck to have been there. It only lasted a few glorious minutes at the end of an otherwise sunny evening!

MalasAr, on July 10, 2008, said:

That is weird, really and very nice work from you. Thank you for sharing this amazing photo.

GDavidson, on July 10, 2008, said:

Thank you MalasAr! It was quite a stroke of luck I caught it.

It's not often I take landscape photos using a fisheye lens!

PMM, on July 10, 2008, said:

Very nice!

GDavidson, on July 10, 2008, said:

Thank you PMM!

kamaly, on July 11, 2008, said:

what else can I say but 'Wow!!!'

Amazing rainbow shot. Never seen anything quite like it at all!

GDavidson, on July 12, 2008, said:

Thank you Kamaly! Another bit of good luck was that the town Gourdon was right in the middle of it! I went on to learnt more about rainbows after reading KasiaD's comments above :)

fascinatingasia.com, on July 18, 2008, said:

Terrific !

GDavidson, on July 18, 2008, said:

Thank you MartinJ!

© Sonny☼, on July 28, 2008, said:

Oh my Goodness! That's a once-in-a-lifetime-shot I suppose! I haven't even SEEN a rainbow like this - amazing! How lucky concerning the lense! YS and Best of!

Cheers from Vienna, Sonny

GDavidson, on July 28, 2008, said:

Thank you Stranskyat - very much appreciated!

At the time I took the photo, I did not appreciate just how lucky I was, even more so considering it was my first time ever up that hill and I was there to get a photo of Gourdon (the town under the rainbow)!

Ben Steiner, on August 1, 2008, said:

This is an amazing shot! You have a very incredible gallery of images! Well done!

GDavidson, on August 2, 2008, said:

Thank you for your very kind comment Ben! I'm glad you like my gallery too!

wazza59, on August 7, 2008, said:

This is a fantastic photo.

GDavidson, on August 7, 2008, said:

Thank you wazza59!

schwUPPs, on August 28, 2008, said:

Never seen a rainbow with such a big circumference! Really amazing. No fake ??!!

Cheers from Germany

GDavidson, on August 28, 2008, said:

Thank you schwUPPs!

It was an amazing sight indeed! It's the genuine article!

My fisheye lens takes in around 170 degrees field of view which gives the picture an unusal perspective.

Also, I think my altitude and the angle of the sun on the hill behind me helped project the rainbow below the horizon - I was effectively looking down on the rainbow. I suspect the rainbow actually extended further round on the left but it was obscured by the hill.

I do have a few more pictures of it but each one has more and more spots of water on the lens as the rain moved in quickly :o)

CAB1, on October 24, 2008, said:

Has to be one of the best rainbow pictures I have seen. Well done!!

Colin.

GDavidson, on October 25, 2008, said:

Thank you CAB1 and ChaosDesign!

Boumlik M., on October 25, 2008, said:

Perfect capture!

GDavidson, on October 25, 2008, said:

Thank you Boumlik M!!

Alex de Haan, on October 25, 2008, said:

What a great moment - congratulation for having such much luck ;))

See mine - it´s not as complete as yours but the light is ....:D

Greetings from Linz, Alex

GDavidson, on October 25, 2008, said:

Thank you Alex de Haan! Certainly at the time I took it, I didn't appreciate how rare an event it was likely to be :o)

Your rainbow is great too - lovely colours and lighting!

GDavidson, on January 5, 2009, said:

Thank you Ẳℓ€χ_G! Nice rainbow you have there too! I had a very wide angle lens on the camera which is how I managed to get all of it in the picture.

I was rather lucky to have been in the right place at the right time!

ArdenZ, on January 20, said:

Great sense of space! Y*

Arden

GDavidson, on January 20, said:

Thank you ArdenZ!

MaryJo, on January 25, said:

Amazing rainbow. First time i see one like this, congratulations for such a beautiful photo! Greetings from Portugal, Mary

GDavidson, on January 26, said:

Thank you for your very kind words MaryJo! Glad I was able to capture the event and to share it with others!

T NL, on February 5, said:

Very special capture G.! I don't think I ever saw something like this before, thanks for sharing.

Greets, Tomas

GDavidson, on February 5, said:

Thank you Tomas! Since I took that photo, I always take my fisheye lens with me as you just never know what might happen! If I'd known it was going to rain, I would probably not ventured up the hill and missed out on a rare opportunity.

Ursuta_Paul, on February 6, said:

Perfect rainbow !

GDavidson, on February 6, said:

THank you Ursuta_Paul!

Bruce da Moose, on February 6, said:

That's really something...and you got it! Great work, gold star :-)

~ da Moose

GDavidson, on February 7, said:

Thank you Bruce da Moose! Thank you for the gold star!

I had a look at your gallery - fantastic work! Well done!

blenzco, on February 12, said:

Wow! Incredible photo!

You are very lucky. Congrats !

Greetings from Mexico

GDavidson, on February 13, said:

Thank you blenzco!

-noè-, on February 17, said:

To me, photography is not beautiful. However, shows a natural phenomenon as I have never seen. This makes it extraordinary, unique. Congratulations to the lucky photographer.

SuperCiao dal noè

P.S. Forgive my Google translator :-C

GDavidson, on February 17, said:

Thank you -noè- for your kind words! Nature can unexpectedly provide some great photo opportunities. I was really lucky to have captured the event!

All the very best. Graeme.

-noè-, on February 17, said:

Hi GDavidson... did my monster rainbow:

here

here

here

here

AriSuperCiao dal noè

GDavidson, on February 17, said:

Hello -noè-. Thank you for the links - you have captured some nice rainbow pictures!

All the best. Graeme.

Huehnchen, on February 28, said:

this is wonderful! :)

GDavidson, on March 1, said:

Thank you ts_Huehnchen - glad you liked it!

maija1994, on March 26, said:

Perfect!! YS.

GDavidson, on March 26, said:

Thank you for your kind YS **maija1994* - I really appreciate it!

Diamantina, on May 15, said:

a hole rainbow! you were so lucky! Diamantina my rainbow

GDavidson, on May 16, said:

Thank you Diamantina - I was really fortunate to have been in the right place at right time!

Interesting rainbow picture you have there. Well done!

All the best, Graeme

powerwoman, on May 23, said:

just great !!

Greetings powerwoman

GDavidson, on May 23, said:

Thank you powerwoman!

All the best, Graeme

BernhardR, on June 14, said:

Wow, this is really a great shot. You were very lucky to see this in reality :)

© Sonny☼Funny, on June 14, said:

YS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GDavidson, on June 14, said:

Thank you Miraxx and © Sonny☼Funny!

I would like to catch a rainbow like it again in the countryside!

All the best, Graeme