The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
I spent a thoroughly enjoyable four hours watch the sky as scattered showers roamed Paradise Valley, MT. Watching this storm grow (roughly 25 miles away) was an important part of that late afternoon. Some of my amazement was because the upper level winds were from the Southeast, so this storm moved from East to West as it grew. As you can see here, there was very little rain falling and most of that didn’t look to reach the ground.
Feedback Requested
This is all about watching (and reading) the weather, something that’s common in the high plains as well as the open mountains of the Basin and Range geological province.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS R5
Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS II USM
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/160s
Aperture: f/13
ISO: 400
tripod
Hi Mark,
I’m a big weather watcher as well. No better movie than a storm moving in or across my view. This looks great to me. I like the vertical aspect ratio as it emphasizes the verticality of the cloud. Those virga clouds are fantastic, and the light and shadow on the land below really make this a stunner. My only nit is that the low rainbow from your other picture isn’t in this as well. Just kidding. I should have stopped typing three sentences ago.
ML
Wonderful. The forces of nature. This makes me feel small.
I like the vertical frame. To me, the 3:2 ratio often is a bit too “high” in vertical images, I often prefer 4:3 or even 7:6, but in this case it is just right.
No nits for me. I am impressed in every way.
Wow. This feels like a frame out of Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. It is good to hear about your immersion experience in taking the picture. I love how photography can act as a portal into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the world because it asks us to be present, focused, and care. Very exciting image which for me, anyway, inspires a profound sense of awe.
Spectacular! There is not only the big cumulonimbus, but layers above it that show the upper level winds and layers of gentler cloud and rain below it. You have a wonderful composition!
The most spectacular thunderstorm I’ve ever experienced was in the Tetons. Big Sky country is also Big Storm country.
Wow. That has Close Encounters vibes, and a real power in the light and composition. Portrait is the right choice: get tight on what matters, but with excellent context.
Wow Mark, this is Impressive! You most certainly captured the magnitude and presence of not only the storm, but the story of the plains - ie. as you"watch and read" the weather. I’m guessing over time you’ve probably learned to predict what may happen, what happens next, allowing you to be in the right place at the right time.
Love the comp here; everything fits and plays together from the nicely lit landscape, up thru the squall and towering clouds and even capped/framed nicely with the blue sky darker clouds above.
I wonder how much more drama could be induced with a B&W application? Not needed of course, this is wonderful as captured and presented.
Mark: Now that is a massive, beautiful, and scary cloud! Great proportion of land to sky. I envy you the experience and the image. Really well done. >=))>
Hi Mark,
Wow, that is one powerful looking cloud display! The vertical format is perfect for this image and I love the color palette of blues and whites in the sky as it is a perfect color combination. I also quite like those sections where the rain is falling from the clouds. This had to be wonderful to watch first hand! I think you could make a twofer from this with just those clouds. Beautifully done.
You brought back fond memories of back home in Colorado Springs. We lived on the side of Cheyenne Mountain and had a great view of the plains to the east of the city and I would sit out on the patio in the afternoon during the summer and watch the massive cumulonimbus clouds form up as they headed east.
Great exposure in the clouds and wonderful light on the scene. I especially like the depth created by the cloud layering. Nothing I would change on this one, well seen!
When I was in the USAF, we had a poster on the wall that showed a B-52 flying straight and level to the right of a huge thunder cloud. The next picture showed the B-52 exiting the cloud: It was upside down.
Preston, about an hour before this shot, there was a jet heading from North to South that left a semicircular contrail. That sure looked to me like it swerved to avoid the strong updraft and then went back to it’s N-S route. Here’s the view that fits your experience…
Mark
