I'm a Storm Cloud

[scokar]

Hello,

Please C&C, straight out of the camera and LR2 using default settings -- as far as I know.

How could this have been better?

Look forward to learning and improving.

Thank you.

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[JuiceBox]

The cloud is exposed well, but there is still a bit of detail in the ground. That doesn't work because the ground is highly underexposed. Perhaps if it were a silhouette the shot would work better. Your other option is to do an HDR out of it (providing you shot in RAW).

[TheReal7]

This is a perfect example of the limitations of digital cameras. The clouds are blown out and the ground is underexposed. I agree HDR would be a good route for a scene like this. Provided you want to capture some detail in the ground as well. If you're just going for a silhouette look, then I would have under exposed at least one stop to prevent the blown out highlights.

[scokar]

I'm trying to get better on doing the most i can before I snap the shutter (composition, etc).

In this case, I can learn more about metering and such.

this helps, thanks

[F4 Cyborg]

Bright white sky and shadows are hard to get just right. You could try pre/focusing on the house, while holding the shutter button half way down still re compose on the clouds.
When all else fails and its going to sometimes. PP to the rescue.
Even Ansel Adams spent hours sometimes days- dodging, burning, combining, he manipulated photographs till he had it just so.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/3154778186_1b12415cfd_o.jpg

a bit of DR adjusting never hurt anyone. The computer inside you camera runs programs, sometimes we just have to explain the program better to the print.

[griptape]

You could have used a graduated ND filter to get the ground right without blowing out the clouds.

[scokar]

Bright white sky and shadows are hard to get just right. You could try pre/focusing on the house, while holding the shutter button half way down still re compose on the clouds.
When all else fails and its going to sometimes. PP to the rescue.
Even Ansel Adams spent hours sometimes days- dodging, burning, combining, he manipulated photographs till he had it just so
....
a bit of DR adjusting never hurt anyone. The computer inside you camera runs programs, sometimes we just have to explain the program better to the print.

your version looks very cool!

[JuiceBox]

You could have used a graduated ND filter to get the ground right without blowing out the clouds.


Yes, but grad ND filters only work well with a perfectly level horizon; something this photo doesn't even have because of the trees. The tips of those trees would be underexposed, and the rest would be correctly exposed; something that would not look good indeed.

[F4 Cyborg]

sckoar; just to give you an idea. I'm no artist and my PS skill's are in the drink but that's your stone bull and your stormy cloud. While your out and about and you see something that would look good in something else. It's not truism and this one is scales apart.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/3154142943_6415718cb1_o.jpg

[griptape]

Yes, but grad ND filters only work well with a perfectly level horizon; something this photo doesn't even have because of the trees. The tips of those trees would be underexposed, and the rest would be correctly exposed; something that would not look good indeed.
Even if it isn't perfect, it would at least get you a LOT closer than the original we're looking at here.

This is just a horizontal gradient in photoshop over a brighter exposure, and then a little extra dodging on the ground:

[griptape]

Unless you were going for a more sinister look.