Saturday's Skies

[JohnC]

We had a lot of unstable air flowing over us on Saturday so I took myself out a couple of times and here's the sequence of photos I took starting at 3.00pm home at 5.00pm and then out again at 7.00pm .I'd just left home heading for a local hill when I saw the rainbow ahead of me so I pulled over. Experience tells me to take the shot not wait until I get on the hill hoping it's still there and get what could be a better shot-as you see when I got to the hill there wasn't much of a rainbow there.The sky was ink black too. Photo 10 -3rd. from last-the cumulonimbus cloud (anvil shape,although the left side is obscured)- produced a few lightning strikes shortly after I took the photo. I was up at about 900 feet on top of a hill.

[rob marshall]

That first one is a very strong composition, John. I couldn't work out what it was but I think it's the very strong triangle shapes that give a strong flow through the image from BL corner across to the right, then back left to the TL corner. Very good shot.

[MiniChris]

I liked Image #2 best and following Rob's lead, I will show you why...you have composed this as an almost a perfect mirror image and tonally, each section I have mapped out is pretty close to an opposite values shift...really nicely done and I can tell from how you moved across the field, you were working out the problem as you went.

I did clone out the tracks and frarmhouse as I thought they were too distracting.

[rob marshall]

I liked Image #2 best and following Rob's lead, I will show you why...you have composed this as an almost a perfect mirror image and tonally, each section I have mapped out is pretty close to an opposite values shift...really nicely done and I can tell from how you moved across the field, you were working out the problem as you went.

I did clone out the tracks and frarmhouse as I thought they were too distracting.

Oh, yes! I didn't spot that one. Just shows how these things work on our sub-conscious, influencing the way we see things.

[JohnC]

Thanks both. I didn't see the triangles in the sky - I need to get a bit more switched on in this regard-The field does look better without the tracks but I thought I was doing the right thing there- they lead the eye but I see now that they are infact a distraction.

Chris-the nearest farmhouse is half a mile away...I thought farmhouse ? where was that ? ,I see what's gone,maybe it's a tractor with some stuff on the trailer or a bit of hedging- I'll look next time and see what it was if it's permanent..but..it does look better gone.

[Geoff F]

Yes these photos capture the mood and light perfectly.

With the first one, I find that those tractor tracks are strong enough to add something and lead my eye into the scene, but I agree with Chris about the others where the distant tracks just appear distracting.

[JohnC]

Thanks Geoff, I'll bear that in mind - depends on how strong a 'lead-in' is..good point. When chosen carefully sky-scapes, as I like to call them, can be very powerful images because of the stark contrasts not only in the sky but with the land, especially fields of wheat and corn and another favourite of mine is the storm sky with a field of strong yellow rapeseed.