Lenticular Spaceship

Love it Harley - and the title is perfect.  That spaceship even has a little fin on the rear - just like what we might have seen in drawings or early space movies - like in the 30's or something.  Very cool.

Intersting about the shadows because the large view looks fine; the mountains are a little dark, but I think you processed it that way to give attention to the cloud.  But it's the smaller version that looks like the shadows are blocked up.  My question for you is, do you upload just the larger version and let the website make the 720 version?  If that's the case, I would recommend preparing 2 files, the large file (1200+px) and the standard view file at 720px.  By uploading them directly, I don't think the sw does anything but display them.  I've noticed a difference in many images between the normal view and the larger view. I'm wondering if that's the reason.  Anyway, just a thought.

Terrific image. Looking forward to more from your recent outing.

Lon

I agree with Lon - the large image looks good to me (but then I like dark images in general). The small one is a bit dark, although the cloud does stand out. I really like the "otherwordly" light - you wouldn't have shot this in Area 51, now wouldn't you?

Lenticular clouds are a favorite of mine also, Harley.  This is a fine capture with the cloud well positioned.  The lighting in the sky is nicely dramatic and the spaceship contrasts well with the rugged landscape.  In my experience (and that seems to be shared with many others) letting the NPN software downsize a post results in lost shadow detail.  That appears to be the case here as the larger view shows much improved shadow detail.

This is waaaay cool, Harley! The lenticular cloud is a beauty in itself (as lenticular clouds always are), but the setting among that dark rocky landscape gives this a very special feeling. Excellent, no other words for it!

I think the light background of the small version vs the dark background of the large version makes a lot of difference. On my own site I can change the settings between light, neutral and dark, and it makes all the difference for photos that lean more to the dark or the light side of the spectrum. Midtone photos don't suffer so much though. I always make a separate 720 px file, so there is no website conversion to the smaller version, and still I see a difference between the large and small versions. I believe it's the dark/light background tricking our brains, but it might have more than one cause of course.

This cloud looks very cool and you managed to put it into a setting that enhances the spaceship impression. The rocks could as well be on a different planet. The generally dark representation fits very well, too.

Hi  Harley      Very  nice!      you composed that spaceship  er  cloud  perfectly     the rocks  look  like their from another planet...   very creative   work..

Albert Darmo
Canada

Harley,
Cool image. Love the lenticular cloud. Lends itself really well to a dark, moody B&W rendering.

You did an excellent job with the processing here, Harley. The image is quite dramatic with the craggy mountains and smooth clouds. The large version comes across much better in terms of detail and tonal range.

--P

Cool image, Mr. Harley.  Love the cloud centered between the gnarly canyon walls.  I think the 720's are always dark, particularly in b/w, even when posting separate images. Glad you had a good trip and I'm looking forward to more images.