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Rain rain don't go away
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Rain rain don't go away

by Brian Schrayer

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted August 8, 2011197 views6 comments
This is my first post in the weekly challenge gallery. But when I saw some of the other photos posted for this challenge I remembered that I had just the shot.

It's been so long since we have had rain I had to go back through the archives to find anything related to rain. This year has been the driest on record with only about 2.5" since Jan 1. Although the Texas Panhandle will never be confused for a tropical area our normal rainfall is just over 13" by this time of year. I took this photo near the photo hotspot of Claude, TX along the eastern part of the Palo Duro Canyon (outside of the boundaries of the state park). I saw storms developing in this area and thought it would be a good chance to get some amazing skies as well as some practice using grads which I had recently purchased.

About the photo:

Canon 5D, 17-40L @ 22 mm
f16 @ 0.4 sec, ISO 100
soft-grad (either 2 or three stops - I don't remember).

From a compositional perspective I know the foreground is not great. But hey, with skies like that who needs a foreground. I also know the upper corners are a little too dark from the grad. I might try to work this up a little more but I just did a rough draft here with an ever so slight curves adjustment / layer mask to brighten this just a tad. I masked out some of the effect of the curves adjustment on the canyon walls as the curves adjustment boosted the saturation too much. I also added a smart-sharpen layer.

I appreciate honest critiques on the composition and processing.

Comments

6 comments
Comment posted by Craig Myers on August 8, 2011 at 10:36 PM
I really like the contrast between the luminous sky on the right with the nicely defined clouds and blue sky on the left. The foreground has some nice light on it and serves to connect the contrasting skies above.
Registered on September 1, 2008, 85 Posts, 757 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Seaver on August 9, 2011 at 1:52 PM
The contrast between the clear sky/sharp clouds on the left and the intense rain cell on the right is great. I agree that you don't need much from the foreground for a shot like this, but you have an interesting foreground with some nice lighting of its own to compliment your bow.
Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments
Comment posted by Rob Graham on August 9, 2011 at 9:54 PM
beautiful light on the foreground to compliment the rainbow and golden light in the rain.
Registered on August 22, 2006, 842 Posts, 2824 Comments
Comment posted by Nick Bristol on August 11, 2011 at 2:42 PM
You shot this in some great conditions Brian. Great light and the clouds and rainbow are fantastic!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments
Comment posted by Varina Patel on August 23, 2011 at 7:39 AM
How about a crop to remove a little bit from the foreground - without taking away the beautiful light - and a larger section of the top - maybe about an inch. You'd end up with a horizontal pano, which might work nicely for this shot. The image is gorgeous, though. Well done!

And welcome to the Weekly Challenge gallery! I hope you'll return often!
Registered on August 22, 2008, 45 Posts, 1578 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on August 23, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Brian, I do not mind the darker corners as it serves to channel the eyes to the center and the rainbow even more. If you did any lightening, possibly only consider the upper left. The darkening in the upper right seems to enhance the cloud structure and storminess, imo.
Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments