The Perfect Storm

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 12, 2012318 views26 comments

Near the end of my recent trip out west, a storm front rolled through Death Valley National Park during the morning hours over the Badwater Basin. It was a challenging shoot in 30 mph winds but I feel comfortable with the rewards. Later in the day this storm front would drop rain through the valley, an awesome spectacle to sit back and watch during the early afternoon.

5D Mark II, f/13, @ 17mm, 1/15 sec, 2 stop soft step Singh Ray Grad ND, ISO 320

Processed with Silver Efex Pro 2 after various layers adjustments in CS4

Feedback/input appreciated!

Comments

26 comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on March 12, 2012 at 9:48 PM

Wonderful black and white work. That is a wicked sky and never get tired of these patterns. Well done.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Jon Daining on March 12, 2012 at 9:51 PM

Wow! This is fantastic. Perfect black and white processing. Incredible sky.

Registered on February 25, 2012, 25 Posts, 191 Comments

Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on March 12, 2012 at 9:53 PM

Wonderful black and white Peyton! The foreground is wonderful, but the clouds make this for me!

Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on March 12, 2012 at 10:03 PM

Neat. The sky is beautiful.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on March 12, 2012 at 10:04 PM

Killer cloud formations. You really lucked out. Great work successfully capturing a dramatic B + W scene in high winds. Welcome to NPN.

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Ben Horne on March 12, 2012 at 10:09 PM

Very nice shot Peyton! You were sure treated to some spectacular conditions, and I'm glad you walked away with this shot.

Registered on August 27, 2009, 51 Posts, 959 Comments

Comment posted by Yiming Hu on March 12, 2012 at 10:14 PM

Beautiful sky!

Registered on April 28, 2011, 38 Posts, 733 Comments

Comment posted by Martin W. Quinn on March 12, 2012 at 10:36 PM

Wow you got a lot of texture in this shot. I love the pattern of the salt pan and the great clouds add the finishing touch.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 28 Posts, 189 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on March 12, 2012 at 11:13 PM

The sky works really well with the patterns of the salt basin, and its angles with the slope of the mountains.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on March 12, 2012 at 11:16 PM

Holy clouds batman! Epic

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on March 12, 2012 at 11:22 PM

Incredible image! I love what the wind did in forming those clouds. The comp is solid, and the subject interesting.

Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments

Comment posted by Bret Edge on March 13, 2012 at 12:03 AM

This is phenomenal, Peyton. It feels so lonely and expansive. I absolutely love it.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 711 Posts, 6363 Comments

Comment posted by Stuart Williams on March 13, 2012 at 12:44 AM

very nice - and welcome! the sky is dramatic and the FG effective. well done.

Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Lundh on March 13, 2012 at 1:51 AM

Beautiful photograph!

Registered on April 28, 2004, 774 Posts, 4351 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Bernabe on March 13, 2012 at 7:26 AM

Awesome, Peyton. Sorry I couldn't catch up with you and Colby while I was out there...

Registered on November 24, 2004, 180 Posts, 1545 Comments

Comment posted by Abdullaziz Bin Ali on March 13, 2012 at 7:40 AM

Love this contrast and the conversion to B&W

Registered on May 31, 2009, 112 Posts, 1590 Comments

Comment posted by Rodrigo Sandoval on March 13, 2012 at 10:04 AM

The B&W result is perfect. I think you made a great composition choice by using the circles in the right position. Congratulations.

Registered on April 4, 2009, 13 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by Jeffrey Sipress on March 13, 2012 at 12:32 PM

Fabulous take on a common scene. Your control of the tonalities is excellent. And so was your good fortune!

Registered on February 17, 2004, 236 Posts, 1197 Comments

Comment posted by Peyton Hale on March 13, 2012 at 2:45 PM

Thanks all, this was a fun morning to shoot given the challenges of dealing with the wind. There was some nice glow under the clouds earlier in the morning and I'd taken some vertical captures, but this just worked so well with the direction of the clouds in comparison to the salt formations and the black and white conversion.

Registered on December 9, 2011, 8 Posts, 43 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on March 13, 2012 at 6:22 PM

Beautiful sky and scene. Excellent.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on March 13, 2012 at 7:03 PM

The cloud interest really adds to this. Nice job Peyton.

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on March 15, 2012 at 11:45 AM

Peyton,

I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to welcome you to NPN and the Landscape gallery. I believe this is your first post here. Welcome!

This is an excellent landscape from DVNP. Of course we see many images from the Badwater area, but you've managed a dynamic and wonderful sky. Excellent b&w conversion; nice range of tones and contrast looks right on to me. What strikes me here is the visual contrast between the repeated, almost controlled patterns, and the randomness and chaos of the clouds. Great job with the dof and sharpness up front as well.

So welcome aboard. We look forward to more images and your participation in the forums and galleries.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on March 15, 2012 at 9:03 PM

Fantastic b/w image! That sky is awesome! Nice work Peyton.
Welcome to NPN with a great first post.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on March 16, 2012 at 1:50 AM

Nice B&W work! welcome

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Peyton Hale on March 16, 2012 at 9:02 AM

Thanks everyone for the warm reception for my first contribution to the NPN galleries

"Nice B&W work! welcome "

Thanks James - we actually met this past fall, in the late evening outside of Zion Adventure Company as your group had just missed out on the last dry suit rental period of the evening. I just so happen to of stumbled across your galleries here while digging through some images this past weekend.

Registered on December 9, 2011, 8 Posts, 43 Comments

Comment posted by Kris Johnson on May 15, 2012 at 11:51 PM

Awesome shot! Great tones, texture and depth

Registered on March 6, 2010, 26 Posts, 299 Comments