When conditions are right, the clouds immediately around the sun can be lit with a remarkable range of colors, known as “cloud iridescence.” One of the more important factors in seeing this phenomenon is sunglasses… without ’em, I *never* see this, as the colors are simply washed out. More difficult still is getting a good photo of the phenomenon. Given how close this occurs to the sun, you could easily burn out both your eyes and your camera. I’ve only managed it a few times, and then only by clamping down on the aperture as far as possible, dropping ISO as low as it’ll go, and reducing the exposure time as much as possible. And even then it takes a smidgeon of processing to bring the colors out. Strangely, the human eye – with sunglasses – seems better capable of making out the colors than a good digital camera.
