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(Obviously the title of this thread should read "Storm and Sunset". I type faster than I think!!)


Thought I'd toss two of mine in for comment. The aftermath of yesterday's storm. Not much in the way of damage but some spectacular sky vistas.

Cumulonimbus Mammatus clouds


Eucalypt Sunset

love the swirling pattern in the second shot Manta and wasnt that mammatus brilliant yesterday
I could hardly take my eyes off the storm and post storm colours yesterday, reinforced by not6 trusting to plug the pc back in after the lightning.

Hee hee.... strom!
I really like number 2 shot Manta, although the tree on the RHS has a weird yellowish tinge to it (OK Mr, so it probably looks better on your newfangled monitor ).

Shot number 1 - hmmm. I like the cloud formation, but I'm not so sure about the tree bits - I guess they give some perspective to the shot. Hmmm.

reel good photos there manta, i red it as storm strait away..wouldnta even noticed it if u'd hadnt sayd anything hahaha. i need to get out more and take more photos...these are ace!!

Manta wrote:(Obviously the title of this thread should read "Storm and Sunset". I type faster than I think!!)

AHHH the excitement of Xmas [hic hic hic]...... or good pix's.......':lol:'

nice capture....... getting in some practise before the 31st...... :lol::lol:

nice strom shots mnata.
we all get a dose of dyslexia soemtimes.

I like the second one the most.

we sure could do with some rain down here too.
I believe sydney is in for some high 30s weather all week.

Steve

I like #2 as well simon. Interesting composition and the swirly cloud structures add to the image nicely.
cheers
marco

I like #2 as well, very nice.
Cheers,
Gerard

Thanks all.
I agree the straggly tree limbs in the first shot look a bit daggy but, as Kinetic said, I needed something to give it perspective. I was parked on the side of a busy road with a very narrow shoulder so it was a case of jump out, get the shots and get back in really quickly.

The second shot is a merge of two different exposures from the same RAW original. For the first exposure, I blew out the sky in order to correctly expose the trees then, for the second, I threw the trees into complete shadow in order to capture the highlight detail of the sky without clipping anything.

I then pasted the good sky version into the good tree version and used the history brush to paint over the trees and bring back their lightness and colour - otherwise they would have been pure black.

I'm not 100% happy with the result but I like experimenting with these difficult exposure situations.

Glad you like.

Nice pix Simon.
I noticed the sky after the strom myself, but Christmas lethargy prevented any photos.
It was a decent enough strom with lots of thunder & lightning, but not quite enough rain.

Thx Trevor.

Nice shots Simon. The second is very nicely composed. Greta cloud formations

Gee I like that second shot, great perspective and love the conferging verticals into that great sky, terrific cloud patterns and colors with detail in the trees, it's come up well... Merging shots like this really makes a dramatic image...

Sounds like a hard way to merge shots though with any foliage in the shot, must take a while and be tricky... I usually bracket and merge anything with high DR, dunno if this helps or not, spose different strokes for different images, but this way I do in a few seconds and is great for tricky areas like foliage and no halos... Looks convoluted, but once you've done it a few times, it only takes a tick...

I think I've posted this before so ignore if it's not helpful...

#1) open both the low exposure and high exposure images,
#2) make the low exposure image current
#3) ^A (to select all) then ^C (to copy to buffer)
#4) make high exposure image current
#5) ^V to paste the low exposure image into the high exposure image, this should paste in as a new layer
#6) Go to layers, make sure the pasted low exposure layer is current
then make a mask but clicking the icon that looks like a camera from
the front (didn't know how else to explain it...)
#7) Alt-click on the mask window (the white window in the pasted layer
pallette) This should give you a white screen/image
#8) Then paste into the white screen, this should give you a black and
white image
#9) Then just click on the background layer to make it current and hey
presto! Merged exposures...
10) Then you can make the mask layer current and hide the background
and clean up erasing any bits of the mask you don't want, just duplicate the layer with the mask to increase the "depth" of the effect from the mask...

Works a treat with foliage Just in case it helps...

Thanks for that Andrew - it certainly seems a better way to go. I'll try it out today if I've got any energy left after hitting the shops with my sale-crazy daughters.

Here's the result of your method Andrew. Centre image is the merge of the two outer exposures. Took about 30 seconds but I had to duplicate the mask layer 10 times to build up enough of the effect! Thanks for the tip - I suspect I'll be revisiting this procedure often as I regularly find myself photographing tough exposure situations and ALWAYS forget to bracket!

Simon

Two things:

Don't you hate it when all those perfect wise guys point out a simple typo

I prefer the rightmost of the three "new" pics (ie without the merge) since I think the tree silhouette make me focus more on the clouds.

Hi Peter - I'm completely cool about the spelling mistake. Serves me right for not proof-reading my work before submission. As a training manager I'm constantly telling my staff to check over everything so I'm happy to cop a light-hearted dig when it's thoroughly deserved. I think it helped draw attention to this thread anyway! (A bit like several years ago when Telstra put our name in the phone book with a small letter instead of a capital - we got HAMMERED by telemarketers and they all commented on the unsual entry. A silent number soon followed!)

Thanks for your comments about the shot. That dark exposure was the original image as the idea was exactly as you said, to highlight the colour and pattern in the heavens, not the earth. It was only after playing in Camera Raw that I noticed the warm hues of the trees. At least through shooting in RAW and then caressing in Photoshop we can always come up with something that pleases different tastes.

Simon

I have only one more thing to add - read your tag line

stubbsy wrote:Simon
Two things:
Don't you hate it when all those perfect wise guys point out a simple typo

Aw, Simon did point it out first.
You can't blame us for playing along!

stubbsy wrote:Simon

I have only one more thing to add - read your tag line

Yep, Obi Wan Kenobi had it right.

cricketfan wrote:

stubbsy wrote:Simon
Two things:
Don't you hate it when all those perfect wise guys point out a simple typo

Aw, Simon did point it out first.
You can't blame us for playing along!

And that makes me the initial 'perfect wise guy'!!! (I knew I'd have to get in before the rest of you guys did!!!)