Skies over Derbyshire

[Joe Wilson]

Out walking with friends on Christmas Eve and the skies were rather impressive. Tough to capture, but hopefully I've done it some justice:





C&C always welcome!

[kap55]

That second shot is gorgeous.

[Geoff F]

With the first image you need to lose some of the black foreground; possibly by as much as half.

But this will mean a different size ratio or also cropping tighter on the right; which I think would just about work.

[Joe Wilson]

Thanks very much both. Geoff, I've tried a tighter crop on the first one. I agree with you, works much better:

[dje]

Hi Joe

The second shot works very well I think. It's a nice image with the sun filtering through the clouds. The first shot doesn't work so well for me I'm afraid. I think you've set yourself an impossible task with such a large variation in light across the image. The silouette just isn't interesting enough and the blown highlights in the sky are distracting. I hope you take this in the constructive vain intended.

Dave

[Joe Wilson]

Hi Dave,

Really appreciate the comments, very helpful. I knew I was up against it with the light, and just couldn't recover the blown area in Lightroom.

Cheers,

Joe

[deetheturk]

Love the second image Joe.

[FrankMi]

I really like the second one Joe. If you are into post processing, I think you could make that one pleasantly more dramatic with some Local Contrast Enhancement, particularly in the middle ground.

[Joe Wilson]

Thanks again for the comments everyone. Frank, I've added a fair bit of clarity to the image overall already, and felt it was about as far as I could take it without looking overdone, however thanks to your suggestion I did try using the adjustment brush in Lightroom to increase the mid-tone contrast on the hill which the light is falling on. I think it helps draw the eye a little better now, so thanks!

[davidedric]

Good idea, Joe, I think that is a subtle but distinct improvement.

For interest, from someone living a few miles outside the Peak District, where is the shot taken from?

Dave

[Joe Wilson]

Thanks Dave, the nearest silhouetted hill you can see on the left is Higger Tor, looking over towards Burbage Edge, and Hathersage is just down the hill off to the right.