Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The eastern Sierra is known for amazing cloud formations and I got to see a few on a trip last week. I was looking for a good vantage point for hoped-for sunset color when some bizarre clouds started forming about an hour before sunset, with the wind howling. I was driving north on 395 and pulled off several times. The mountains are to the left and Mono Lake is a little ahead to the right. And bizarrely, as I was writing this post, a blog post came in from Michael Fry, who (unbeknownst to me) was also in Lee Vining at the same time I was, doing a night photography workshop. We got pictures of the same formations, but I never saw the ones in his first image â maybe that was the night before? Iâll post a couple more in the next few days. They did get some wonderful color after sunset.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome!
Technical Details
Minor tonal tweaks in LR: Highlights down and some Clarity. Into PS for Nik Detail Extractor and Tonal Contrast. Topaz Denoise after that.
2 Likes
What an amazing nature phenomenon to witness. Itâs bizarre that I was reading Michaels email when I saw his photo of a sunset cloud image similar to yours. Before I read his email, I had posted an image on NPN and saw this image thinking âwowâ Iâll have to check this one out. Itâs beautiful, Diane. Iâve seen some great cloud formations, but donât remember ever seeing a wind cloud. I donât see a thing I would change.
Thatâs a really cool sighting, Diane! I love all the flat bottomed clouds out in the distance as well. It almost looks like a tornado is forming! Great capture!
The bottom 10% would make a fine pano on its own, but what youâve done here is stunning. Iâm just wondering if the ominous effect would be increased by cropping at the top just above the âwidest bitâ - probably not. I had the same impression of a tornado shape which @Vanessa_Hill had! Magnificent sidelighting and an amazing shot.
Hi Diane,
what an amazing shot! Awesome!
I had the opportunity to witness those lenticular clouds in the Eastern Sierra in February myself. But I wasnât as lucky as you with this particular cloud.
I wish the bottom of the image showed a little more of the street. Did you crop it like this?
Markus
Aaaahhhh we are wtinessing the genie is coming out of the bottle - and clearly there 's no putting it back in: the top is boiling! Spectacular capture. The vanishing road at the bottom provides great perspective: a super flat super far horizon contrasting with an incredibly high vertical. The vegetation on the sides of the road adds great context. These are some awesome clouds, and very ominous, harbingers of some pretty âbigâ weather to come.
I was wondering about your camera settings, but reading your intro again I imagine that you used a super fast SS to compensate for any camera motion caused by the howling wind? I didnât think that f/5 could get you sharpness from front to back but it looks great here. Plus it gets you nice light in the lit-up of the side of the towering cloud, where I imagine that you placed the focus?
Thanks, @Donna_Callais, @Vanessa_Hill, @Mike_Friel, @Markus_Albert and @LauraEmerson! It takes large mountains and a lot of wind to create clouds like these. Modest-sized lenticulars are not terribly uncommon out west, but the mountain waves off the Sierra are in a class of their own, due the the steep dropoff on the eastern flank. The SS was due to inattention from the excitement of the moment. I often hit the wrong dial without realizing it. I was handholding, but didnât need anything like that at 24mm. And f/5 gives good DOF with a wide angle for things this far away, but it probably would have been smarter to go to maybe f/8.
Markus, this is the full frame as shot. I wanted to show a hint of grounding but include all the cloud I could. I didnât think the highway was a very special FG. I could (should) have scrambled up the hillside to the right but there was a fence just out of the frame, and I was in a hurry to get to the good vantage point for the upcoming light show as the sun set.
1 Like
@Diane_Miller Thanks for the precision, Diane. I tend to favour as low SS as possible and sometimes wonder if I get it wrong. Great that you pulled it off at that aperture. And I really like the road 
I think it does a great job of introducing depth in the image.
Beautiful work Diane. I actually like yours more than Michaelâs. Sometimes âspectacularâ can get overdone. I think you have the right amount of ground in this one.
Diane, you were at the right place at the right time and did a fantastic job capturing these clouds. Iâm enjoying your cloud photos.
Thanks, @Igor_Doncov and @Shirley_Freeman! I got lucky with the weather!
Diane,
Wow, what awesome clouds and skies you got to witness and photograph on your trip! This one is phenomenal. Of course anyone whoâs witness the skies of the Eastern Sierra will know this - the scale of these clouds most often just canât be portrayed in a photograph.
Certainly here with the inclusion of the 395 highway and the landscape does help provide some scale and allow the enormity of the cloud to come through.
Colors, processing all look spot on. No suggestions or nits!
Thanks, @Lon_Overacker! It was a great trip with more shots to come. The clouds the next morning were bizarre, too.
Wow, those are some amazing clouds for sure! I like that you included just that sliver of land at the bottom to really help convey how big and impressive the clouds are.
Thanks, @Tom_Nevesely â it was amazing to be there!
Diane,
I think what is cool about this photo, is the scale of the size of the cloud in relation to the mountains. I also find fascinating the multiple cloud textures in that single cloud.
Thanks, @Youssef_Ismail! I had never seen textures like the strange lines in the bottom of this cloud. It was amazing.
