Winter in Colorado brings some amazing sunsets and last night proved to be a case in point. Fast moving jet stream winds this time of year create mountain wave clouds and lenticular clouds that are in and of themselves fun to see. Throw in unearthly colors as the day comes to a close and you have the makeup for spectacular scenes.

Unfortunately, living in suburbia, I don’t have a good, clear shot of the western horizon and didn’t have time to run somewhere that provided a better view of the overall scene. However, tightly zoomed in pictures show the intricate details and the amazing forms and colors of the clouds.

Many will say the Great Plains lack excitement on the scenery front but I tend to think those naysayers just don’t spend enough time out there or look very hard.  There is beauty to be found and you don’t have to look far or be out there long to find it.

Such was the case a week ago when yet another amazing sunset closed out a gorgeous day in Morgan County.  The colors started out orange but soon red arrived and the further sun went down, the deeper blue the Centennial State’s skies became as night encroached.

Scenes like this are commonplace in the wide open spaces – you just have to open your eyes.

Sunsets on the Great Plains are oftentimes exercises in amazement.  The color of the dark, blue skies above coupled with the oranges, pinks and reds near the horizon provide for stunning viewing.   On this particular evening, Mother Nature put on quite a colorful show not only looking west as seen here, but in just about every direction.  Truly beautiful. 

I rarely use my cell phone to take pictures and virtually never do when it comes to capturing something as gorgeous as Colorado sunsets.  This time though I made an exception and decided it was a good opportunity to play with a new cell phone and an app.

The sunset was beautiful on this evening as is often the case.  As the sun descended on the horizon, the clouds to the south took on a gorgeous orange color.  I snapped a picture using my Galaxy S4 and then applied a ‘fake’ HDR effect using an app called Snapseed.

The effect was a relatively passable HDR-like image that looks pretty cool.