Yes, this is a photograph
Basically what you’re seeing behind the trees isn’t the sky, it’s a sand dune (the white blotches are patches of white grass). The colors look off because the photo was taken at dawn, so the orange dune itself was bathed in light, while the foreground was still in shadow (that’s why the white clay of the foreground winds up looking blue, and the trees look like terrifying silhouettes).
NASA has posted animated images of the Sarychev Peak Eruption in Russia.
(Source: earthobservatory.nasa.gov)