Popcorn in the Sky

[terrib]

The sky was much more interesting tonight. All C&C is appreciated but I'm particularly interested in PP. This is a single shot. I did do some bracketed shots after this that I will play with combining but I actually thought this came out pretty good on its own.

[Bobobird]

Beautiful sky, beautiful shot.

The various intensity layers does it for me.

[Donald]

... but I actually thought this came out pretty good on its own.

It did indeed. You've managed to keep some detail in the land at the same time as getting the exposure right for the sky. I'd like to see what the scene was like about 15-20 minutes after this, once the sun had gone down.

[terrib]

Thanks Bobo and Donald. Donald, I do have some later shots, but those didn't really work as a single image (I think) so I'm going to try blending the shots that I bracketed. Haven't done much of that so I'll surely be posting them for input.

[KCBrecks]

I like the description of this cloud formation as 'Popcorn', Terri: it has probably got some Stratosomethingorother propper name, but Popcorn describes it perfectly. I don't have any comments to make about the technicalities of the picture as to my eye you have got it right.

- Keith

[oleleclos]

Yes Keith, they are altocumulus clouds, but popcorn's a good name for them

Nice picture Terry, but unlike Donald I would have lightened the foreground just a tad. Not much but just enough to separate it from the tree line.

I like that the sun is in the picture and maybe I would have worked it a little in PP to make both the sun itself and its starburst stand out a bit more.

[Teton Chuck]

Terri, this is a very nice photo and very appropriate subject matter. The sky fills so much space on the Great Plains and you captured that feeling. I would like to see another image that you took within a minute or two of this one. You had a great opportunity for a spectacular sunburst. Did you get one? Not everyone likes them but I think they are cool.

Cheers, Chuck

[terrib]

Thanks, Keith. I appreciate the compliment!

[terrib]

Thanks, Ole, for your comments. I will give your suggestions a try. Can you say more about how you would have worked the sun to make it stand out more?

[terrib]

Chuck, thanks also for your comments. This was the third of eleven shots over about 1 minute 45 seconds in which time the starburst did not change very much. There was then about a 35 second space before the next shot without any starburst so I don't know if I missed the spectacular sunburst during that time or if there just wasn't one. I, too, like them but I don't always see them in the viewfinder but am surprised to find them later when processing.

[Teton Chuck]

Terri, what was your f/stop for this photo?

[oleleclos]

Can you say more about how you would have worked the sun to make it stand out more?

The details would depend on which PP program you are using, but broadly speaking I would have darkened the sky around the sun just enough to make the sun disc more visible and made the starburst stand out a bit more by lightening and increasing contrast and "clarity" locally.

If you'll forgive a crude attempt, working from the small file I can download from CiC, this is what I'm driving at. I have also lightened the foreground very slightly (bearing in mind that this is not Scotland ) and locally sharpened the trees just enough to make the tree line stand out and create a sharpness contrasting with the roundness of the clouds.



[terrib]

thank you, Ole for the time you spent in clarifying. I will see if I can execute what you've done in Photoshop Elements. (I know Elements can handle it but we'll see if I can. )

[oleleclos]

I have only recently gone fully digital and at the same time switched from Photoshop to Lightroom. Reason being that I don't need everything PS does and therefore don't want to keep paying the upkeep of new versions.


Lightroom has some excellent tools which make things like what I suggest here very easy; in particular the brush tool which you can load not only with things like density and contrast, but also colour temperature, tint, highlight and shadow control, clarity (local contrast), saturation, sharpness, noise, and moiré controls. On top of all that it has a really useful auto masking function that make local adjustments really painless.


Lightroom is not a lot more money than PSE these days, so well worth considering. Oh, and Adobe have some fantastic online tutorials, so you'll soon handle anything Lightroom can handle

[terrib]

Terri, what was your f/stop for this photo?

And she thinks... "Why did he ask?" And she realizes that with that wide of a lens at that focusing distance that a narrow aperture is not needed. A wider aperture would have provided a faster shutter speed and possibly a sharper sunburst and clouds since they are moving. Is the movement enough to make a difference?

Chuck, it was f11 and 1/40. Am I right about why you asked? I'm in the habit of using small apertures on landscapes to provide max DOF. I'm usually not worried about movement so I don't worry about shutter speed and I don't often use a wide angle lens so I hadn't thought about just how large of an aperture I could have gotten away with.

[djg05478]

Great photo promoting great discussion....good good stuff. THIS is how you learn to take better photos.

[ucci]

Great photo promoting great discussion....good good stuff. THIS is how you learn to take better photos.

Well said, Debbie!

[Loose Canon]

And she thinks... "Why did he ask?" And she realizes that with that wide of a lens at that focusing distance that a narrow aperture is not needed. A wider aperture would have provided a faster shutter speed and possibly a sharper sunburst and clouds since they are moving. Is the movement enough to make a difference?

Chuck, it was f11 and 1/40. Am I right about why you asked? I'm in the habit of using small apertures on landscapes to provide max DOF. I'm usually not worried about movement so I don't worry about shutter speed and I don't often use a wide angle lens so I hadn't thought about just how large of an aperture I could have gotten away with.

And he says to himself…

Seems like a logical decision. However, if you are going for a “sunburst” effect stopping down is how to do it.

This was shot at f/22 because I was specifically wanting to get the effect in this shot.

[terrib]

And he says to himself…

Seems like a logical decision. However, if you are going for a “sunburst” effect stopping down is how to do it.

This was shot at f/22 because I was specifically wanting to get the effect in this shot.

And she thinks "Dang, I don't get it and I'm going to have to admit it!!" Ok, please splain why this works.

[terrib]

Great photo promoting great discussion....good good stuff. THIS is how you learn to take better photos.

Debbie, thanks for the compliment on the photo. And I so agree about the learning. I think everyone learns best in different ways so everyone may not respond like I do. I have no idea since he hasn't checked back in if Chuck intended this, but if you ask me a question I am going to think through it more than if you just tell me what to do. This was a method my Dad employed (and still does) to make us figure out the answer to something. I still, after all these years, respond to that.