Ominous Beauty

Gallery: LandscapePosted June 23, 2014304 views9 comments

Inspired by the great cloudscape abstracts that Morris posted last year I have been hoping I would get a chance to experiment for myself. So I pulled out my creative license and went to work.

This was taken last week in Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. A storm was passing to the south of the canyon providing dramatic cloud formations as the sun was setting (out of the frame in the lower right hand side).

I am looking for honest comments and critiques on this image.

Specs:
21 mm
f8 @ 1/60 sec
ISO 100
Cloudy White Balance (adjusted down to around 5800K during RAW Processing).

Processing:
TK's Luminosity Masks (in Luminosity Mode) to bring out more of the contrast and texture in the clouds

TK's Cloud Sharpening Layer (at reduced opacity)

No saturation or color adjustments were made

My goal in processing was not necessarily to produce a literal representation of the conditions. However, I do still want an image that is grounded in reality and believable.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on June 23, 2014 at 11:06 PM

For comparison, here is the RAW file converted to JPEG. The only adjustments in RAW processing were to white balance as noted above and increased clarity.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on June 24, 2014 at 12:46 AM

A fine sky, Brian. Keep it and it will become a great background for another shot. It's very believable. It may be a little noisy but can't really tell

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on June 24, 2014 at 10:25 AM

Those are some nice looking clouds, a bit reminiscent of mammatus clouds. My only nit is that some parts in the lower right look a bit washed out. Maybe burn the lower right corner a bit?

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Chet Dowell on June 24, 2014 at 12:23 PM

Beautiful,shapes, color and textures. This has a nice energy about it, Brian. I like it a lot. Chet

Registered on December 3, 2012, 237 Posts, 1171 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on June 24, 2014 at 12:41 PM

I like the processing the diagonal tonal gradient you emphasized somewhat. I like the image as posted. I guess I might crop down a little from the top to reduce the size of the dark area in the upper left. It draws my eye because it's different from the rest of the image but yet when I get there it doesn't hold my attention.

I've not done any of these or any abstracts so take the comment with a grain of salt.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on June 24, 2014 at 3:36 PM

Works very nicely as you'd intended, Brian.

I do still want an image that is grounded in reality and believable.

The only changes I might work on is a few hot spots of white here and there, otherwise, good to go IMO.

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on June 24, 2014 at 8:19 PM

These do look like mammatus clouds in the act of forming. I really like the color, and I think you did a good job bringing it out without it looking over-cooked. As Pat said, you might consider a bit of a crop from the top due to the dark area upper left.

The last time I visited Palo Duro was in 1966 while stationed at Amarillo AFB. Your image brings back some great memories.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph Campisi on June 28, 2014 at 12:43 PM

Cool stuff Brian. I too thought they looked like partially formed mammatus clouds.

Registered on November 24, 2008, 304 Posts, 3211 Comments

Comment posted by Dean Sauskojus on June 30, 2014 at 2:20 AM

I like the second image posted better because it is a little more abstract but both are nice. I wonder if you could lighten the ULC and try to pull a little more texture out of it or you could flip one image then combine two of the same image. What would this look like in blue I wonder? Lovely texture.

Registered on September 29, 2009, 137 Posts, 2659 Comments