Gorgeous Photograph of a Cap Cloud over the Sierra Nevadas

Sometimes you run across a photo that causes you to feel equal parts wonder and envy all at the same time. Wonder because the photo is just amazing; and envy because… well… you didn’t take it. The photo above by photographer Guido Montañés is such a photo.

What you’re looking at is a Pileus or ‘Cap’ cloud — a type of Lenticular cloud, in case you’re curious — hovering over 11,142ft Mount Veleta in the Sierra Nevada National Park in Spain.

Montañés captured the photo in January of this year as the Sun was setting above the district of Albayzín in his birthplace of Grenada. Here’s what he had to say about the photograph when we got in touch with him:

All that day, I was seeing singular lenticular clouds over Granada and Sierra Nevada, so I was just waiting for the sunset to get photographs with the sunset colors. Just at the sunset, near the night, this lenticular cloud became unique with this strange way similar to a fungus. It was such a wonderful sunset!

A wonderful sunset indeed! To see more from Montañés be sure to visit his website or follow him on Facebook, Flickr and/or Twitter by clicking on the corresponding links. And if you’d like to buy a print of this beautiful shot, you can do so over at Fine Art America or Society6.

(via APOD)

Image credits: Photograph by Guido Montañés and used with permission.