First the truth. Judgment “day” only lasted about half an hour. This was a cloud passing over the Catalina Mountains right at sunset. I watched it move east-to-west and settled on this comp where it was about centered over the mountains as I looked at them.
This is three blended exposures. It feels a bit unreal, I guess, but it was elements and light that were happening. I’ve included an unprocessed RAW image below just to prove it was real.
I’ve gone back and forth on the brightness levels of the mountains and clouds. Some images I make the mountains darker, some lighter. And same for the cloud. This is the combo I finally settled on as I thought it looked best in the print. Some people seem to be able to really make dark clouds, but I usually stop before I reach their level.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Too scary? One friend suggested it was.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
3 exposures one stop apart blended in PS CC.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
I like this a lot, Tony. I really like the pairing between the mammatus and the landscape below it. I think the rocky mountain adds to the sense of impending Doom’s day. I have no nit at all, just trembling a little bit with the emotion evoked by this image.
Tony, “a bit unreal” is what it’s about, huh. So go for it, you have the skills and software, and you juiced it up nicely. Ominous indeed approaching biblical.
Wow, this truly succeeds in conveying “judgement day”. I love it. The way the dark clouds are emanating from that point in the middle is perfect - a vengeful god could emerge at any moment! Is it too scary? Not for me. And does it look unreal (I’d say surreal)? Yes, it does, and, to me, that’s appropriate for the theme.
Beautiful, Tony. Interesting to see the unaltered and the final. I find it somewhat surreal but nonetheless on the realistic side of things. I quite like the processing and the image has huge impact. Most excellent.
This is definitely an ominous scene which brings to mind the scenes of Mordor from the Lord of the Rings films. Your processing definitely enhances that feeling. The textures in the clouds hold a lot of interest and keep my eye moving through the frame. Interestingly this feels like a bit of a departure from your usual style, but I recognized it as your work almost immediately.
Tony, Mother Nature gave you the raw materials to work with, but this image is a masterpiece of post-processing. The sense of impending doom is overwhelming in this image. I’m with @Harley_Goldman, this is on that fine edge between surreal and realistic. It doesn’t matter side of that divide one thinks this falls on, it is still an image with tremendous impact. Great vision on your part to bring this out a sky like this.
Spectacular, Tony. Very intriguing and otherworldly image. Framing and processing look good. Minor but I might desaturate the purples just a touch out of the clouds.
Amazing. It’s like ‘A Night on Bald Mountain’ except it’s not night. Masterfully processed. An emotionally charged artistic rendering of a storm. Is it overdone? Depends how important it is to capture reality. The cloud looks more like smoke than a cloud. I can see this as an erupting volcano as well.
A wonderful and amazing image, Tony. Thanks for sharing the raw image very educational on what can be accomplished in post processing. The textures and high lights in the cloud formation are extraordinary. Certainly seems to be the beginning of an impending paranormal event.
This Is freakin crazy (compliment)! I’m looking at this on a MacbkPro…, so not sure of color accuracy. What epic conditions! It really does look otherworldly and unnatural, so thanks for including the raw. So, with that in mind, the clouds look predominantly as shades of grey while the sky/mtn have a warmth to them. This may have been intentional, but is further disorienting to my eye. I would tend to either create more color in the sky to compliment the warm tones, or move the image to B&W. Also, the center/top of the ridgeline is particularly dark and creates a border to me between the two elements. I might be tempted to dodge that a bit and bring it more in line with the rest of the mountain range. Super cool scene Tony…thanks for sharing!
Tony, this is certainly ominous. It does look a bit exaggerated to me, but it works well to create the mood. I love this. It’s really great to see the original RAW, and how far you can take it.
It’s a beautiful dramatic image, and probably the blended version looks more painterly. It does look like it’s associated with some Greco/Roman god. I can imaging the face emerging right now, and that’s not bad.
I do wonder what you could do with the single RAW exposure, though.
Fabulous photo. Well processed. Regarding your question about brightness, part of me wants to see what it would look like with a bit more global brightness.
Not too overdone for my taste, just really dramatic, powerful, beautiful. Sometimes it does really feel like that and you hope you have a place to take shelter.
