It was a very hot morning in the desert and a storm was rolling in. I had just arrived at this area the night before and hadn’t had time to scout out the area when this storm started rolling in at daybreak. I scrambled to find an interesting foreground but in the end just started shooting the incredible clouds and rain moving in on top of the sunrise.
This probably should be more of a personal photo than a public photo but this image always takes me back to the wonder and loneliness of being in the desert by myself witnessing this beautiful display.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Canon 5DM4 ISO 400 f/16 16 mm 1/6 sec
Processing of this image was very minimal. I lightened up the foreground and brought a little more light into the clouds with a luminosity mask
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Hi @John_Moses.
I love these kind of images, the grand scale makes you think how small you would fell on that place.
I think the colours are spot and techincally all appears too be great, i would (by personal taste) open the exposure on the sides of the frame, not much so it wouldnt steal the focus of the center.
On composition i would (maybe) crop it to a 16:9 (or 10) because i find that bright area of clouds a bit distracting and diverting the eyes from that beautifull desert.
Apart from that i would change a bit on this image.
P.S.: is that rain on right?
Thanks for sharing,
Cheers.
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Very dramatic sky, John. I really like that cloud breaks in the middle. It adds some surrealism to the image as well. This is really the kind of light and atmosphere to “die for”. You have processed this very very well, too. I can somewhat feel the sense of solitude and sense of scale from this but I think it would be a lot better if it were paired with a different foreground. But we take what we can get some time. Thanks for sharing this with us, it’s often the story of my life, too.
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Joao. Yes that is rain off to the right which made its way to my location in about 20 minutes. Thanks for the cropping suggestions
Adhika. I agree with you, if only I had gotten there earlier the day before and found the canyon running out to the storm which was about a half mile to my right. I have never tried swapping skies but maybe that is the answer.
John, I think this works very well at showing off the stormy sky, with enough land to show the place and create a nice sense of being there. You’ve got some good right to left eye movement in the land and off to the sun. The bright bit of ground in the center catches my eyes a bit, so I’d suggest burning that are in to match the tonality of the surroundings.
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This looks real nice. I love that sky. I do agree with burning down that brighter patch in the foreground. Just curious how the sly would look with the cyan reduced a little bit? Very dramatic, and somewhat foreboding–I like it!
-P
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Nice color here and processing. I feel there is a bit too much sky for my tastes and not enough foreground. Curious why you used ISO 400 especially with the Canon sensor, was this handheld?
Great drama you captured John; that’s a powerful sky and I love the energy. The darker clouds as stars in the center are special. I agree about darkening the foreground; it lets the sky star even more.
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Beautiful and dramatic image. I would also agree with darkening the foreground, but otherwise, the processing looks great to my eye. Real nice work.
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John,
Beautiful nature image! Great drama in the sky of course and I think most of us can appreciate that feeling of being alone in nature and just taking it all in. This image certainly conveys that feeling for me.
I don’t have any nits or suggestions. I do like the warm/cool contrast of the colors.
Lon
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This is my idea of a great sunrise! Wonderful processing in the sky. My only suggestion would be to darken the ground just a bit. The sky is definitely the star of the show in this one.
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