Ecstatic ..

From yesterday before I found out that the Friday night's sensor cleaning actually had the reverse effect

How's the self-restraint?

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/kykhans/7962568​078/

I actually like this one. your sky is much more believeable in this post.

And so, which planet did you say that this was this from? The reason that I ask is that those clouds look like nothing I've seen in six decades of walking this Earth. Strange that they have personal transportation devices not unlike those that you find on this planet. Speaking of which, what's the idea with having the auto in the shot with an opened door?

This is a long-winded way of saying that it looks overcooked. If it's just an exercise in tone-mapping, I'll buy that.

Tone down some of those highlights in the clouds, I count abut 5 separate areas, and I like it a lot.

I dont think it's overcooked. But,the car...really? Clone it out,clone in some grass and your good to go.

yeah, I'm way diggin the sky and tree line, but the road and car could go. My reaction as the image was loading was simply WOW! and then I saw the car.

Very cool image! The colors are awesome. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the input all ... I was SO EXCITED I just ran out, grabbed the tripodded camera from the passenger side, ran back and started shooting .. didn't even care about the car

This exercise was geared more towards processing rather than composition anyway. I got a lot of nice brackets but as I explained before the sensor is so full of dust its taking me 15-20 minutes just to spot heal or clone the spots out and I just don't have that time right now. I will post more for critique as I get them processed.

I cleaned the sensor again this afternoon and shot some more; I still got dust, even at F8 .. Not sure what's up with that.

this is from today's sunset at F8 .. look at all the fuzz/grain visible on the top half ..

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/kykhans/7967697​558/

alphamalex wrote in post #14967295
How's the self-restraint?

Not sure what you mean by "self restraint", but the image itself looks like a product of HDR processing, rather than a realistic image of a real scene. It just looks overdone and fake. My eye is pleased when it sees things that are done in a more natural fashion. This looks like HDR. . . overdone HDR, at that.

Doesn't the original image look good enough, without of that processing trickery?

I would like to see one of the original images, unprocessed. The sky would look so much better if it was less contrasty and more subdued, as a cloudy sky really looks.

Eh, I actually like the car in there. Otherwise, it would just be road in the foreground. Kind of tells the story of somebody driving along, seeing an amazing sky, and immediately stopping to get the picture...whether or not that's the way it happened is a whole other story lol

So I saw the colors unfolding outside .. left my house and drove to the (still) undeveloped area of my subdivision, parked the car and the rest is history .. See for your self

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/kykhans/7968078​256/

Back to alien clouds. The car seems an afterthought, door open, too small in the frame. You have some clouds that could be interesting, given a better subject.

Basically you can't just drive down the street and take photos and have a good subject - well at least not many of us can. You need to find your subject first and then be there when the clouds and light are right.

alphamalex wrote in post #14969644
Thanks for the input all ... I was SO EXCITED I just ran out, grabbed the tripodded camera from the passenger side, ran back and started shooting .. didn't even care about the car

This exercise was geared more towards processing rather than composition anyway. I got a lot of nice brackets but as I explained before the sensor is so full of dust its taking me 15-20 minutes just to spot heal or clone the spots out and I just don't have that time right now. I will post more for critique as I get them processed.

I cleaned the sensor again this afternoon and shot some more; I still got dust, even at F8 .. Not sure what's up with that.

Since you were just trying to shoot the sky, I give this two thumbs all the way. Even if some feel it looks fake, I think its great!!

Great job!

alphamalex wrote in post #14969909
So I saw the colors unfolding outside .. left my house and drove to the (still) undeveloped area of my subdivision, parked the car and the rest is history .. See for your self

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/kykhans/7968078​256/
Capture by kykhans, on Flickr

for some reason, i loved seeing this

gen2roller wrote in post #14977759
for some reason, i loved seeing this

Yes - rather long tripod or throwing the camera in the air with self-timer activated and then remember to catch it properly on the way down?