Big Sky

[GB1]

Interesting cloud formations that day... I'm not sure if the 'halo' above and around them (caused by the polarizer) ruins it or not?

GB

[LeeIs]

Love the skies here GB.

As for the halo, are you talking about the purple spot above the big cloud or the small outline that looks to be above some of the smaller clouds, especially the one immediately to the left of hte big cloud?

The purple spot doesn't bother me at all. The outline does so slightly though. I'm sure you can get rid of that in PS.

What distracts me in this shot is the two big boulder at the bottom left. Had they not been there and the landscape continued down, this shot would've been so much better IMO.

I've always wanted to know what the secret was behind capturing the skies like this. Is it only the polarizer? They look beautiful and fluffy and the sky is a nice deep colour.

[starriderrick]

Admire your recent work ! Can you tell us...The lense you are using ? Camera?


Very inspiring photo. What altitude ? Location ?? Good work GB1
Rick

[GB1]

Thks for the feedback, guys. Rick, I'm using film still It is a Nikon F-100 camera with a Tamron 24-135mm zoom lens, and Kodachrome 64 film. I bought this zoom about 6 months ago but havent used it much (havent been doing a lot of photography ) It's pretty highly rated w.r.t. sharpness, but does suffer from some barrel distortion. I think the altitude is ~ 5000 feet, maybe a little higher. It was Paso Picacho to the top of Stonewall peak at Cuyamaca State Park in southern California. Pretty popular hike -- or was so, until it burned up in a fire 2 years ago. But it is recovering well.

LeeIs, I was referring to the black semicircle that radiates from the main cloud to the edges of the photo. (I notice here that there's also a black bar at the top, looks like I also scanned off the edge of the photo with my scanner.) I actually cropped out the boulders at first, but then re-added them... It seems to add some context. I guess it doesn't work for everyone, cause it does distract somewhat.

The only thing I did tricky here was use a polarizer. Note that I *don't* use a polarizer with Velvia or Ektachrome VS film, because they already are forumulated to make the sky look like this and a polarizer would overdo it. This was just a nice day to shoot pix of the sky

Gb

[Ronnoco]

Great shot. My only suggestion would be to experiment with the circular position of the polarizer to "even off" the colour of the sky somewhat between the really dark blue at the top and the very light blue at the horizon. That way, the sky will still look good, but it will also look a little more natural as well.

Ronnoco