Moonlight Monsoon + repost

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 30, 20143,071 views14 comments

A monsoon storm lights up over Coalmine Canyon in northern Arizona. Taken shortly after sunset, the cloud is illuminated by internal flashes of lightning and the light of a waxing gibbous moon. This image was taken about 30 minutes after the last post.

The sky, cloud, and the land have their saturation and color balance separately adjusted so I would be interested to know if the balance looks right. Your help is always appreciated.

Canon 5D2, 28-300@28, f/5.6, 25 sec, ISO 1600

The "white specks" BTW, are "stars." This is how they look sometimes when not over-captured to include the dust and invisible stars of the Milky Way.

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by John&Patty Benway on August 30, 2014 at 7:24 AM

Striking scene Tony, Beautiful light and color, everything looks spot on to me. Real nice.
John

Registered on May 12, 2006, 626 Posts, 8700 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on August 30, 2014 at 11:53 AM

I like this a lot. I have no idea what natural would be here. I don't recall ever having seen anything quite like this. So all I can really tell you is that I'd love to have it on my wall as posted.

pat

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

Comment posted by gary phillips on August 30, 2014 at 1:09 PM

Another beauty from Coalmine, Tony. Just a lovely little storm. I love everything about this. My only nit,and it is purely personal preference, is the sky looks a bit too blue. The stars appearing in the deep blue looks a little unnatural to me. The amazing thing when taken in context of the overall shot is seems to work quite well. Anyway, my 2 cents . Great work as usual.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 30, 2014 at 4:50 PM

Thanks, Gary. I did bump up the saturation on the sky from a previous setting. May need to pull that back.

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

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on August 30, 2014 at 7:37 PM

Tony,

I really like what you've done here. It's very dramatic. My only concern is blue sky--I would expect that it would be darker, more 'steel blue' (does that make sense?) so that the stars really pop.

Very nicely done, sir!

--P

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

Comment posted by Stan Rose on August 31, 2014 at 12:04 AM

Zap! Looks good to me, Tony!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Enrique Vizcarra on August 31, 2014 at 3:13 AM

Beautiful !

Registered on September 10, 2009, 223 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on August 31, 2014 at 3:45 AM

I agree that the sky should be darker, but just nitpicking over a very dynamic and startling image.
The lightning strike is perfect and the cloud is terrific.....

Registered on September 2, 2013, 209 Posts, 1514 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on August 31, 2014 at 11:14 AM

I love the moment but agree too blue. What are the white specks all over the upper right and left?

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Warren on August 31, 2014 at 12:30 PM

Fantastic capture, Tony. I'd be tempted to crop down from the ULC to get a tighter view of the "action." I might also try a slightly darker presentation overall, but what you have already is very impressive.

Registered on May 11, 2012, 84 Posts, 931 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 31, 2014 at 4:01 PM

Interesting comments on the sky. The overall brightness does match pretty well both the jpg and RAW capture, so this has me thinking that it might be a saturation and/or color balance issue. Will definitely try some alternatives.

OK, just did a color balance modification that seemed to also help the saturation. I went back to the jpeg that was captured and tried to match its sky color. I definitely think that helped the whole image, not just the sky.

I still see some areas that need work, but I think this is better. Thanks!

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

Comment posted by Bill Reid on September 1, 2014 at 9:42 AM

I like the repost Tony as the sky seems to look more like I'd expect and slightly better contrast also.. Wonderful scene with a lot of dramatic elements and beautiful colors and comp. Wonderful image.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on September 2, 2014 at 7:42 PM

I don't know about more natural Tony but I prefer the darker sky in the repost. What a dramatic image. Beautiful.

pat

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

Comment posted by Mark Pelton on September 2, 2014 at 10:43 PM

2nd version is awesome, Tony.

Registered on November 25, 2003, 380 Posts, 4647 Comments