It is a nice cloud shot, but the underexposure of the foreground spoils it for me. A normal foreground would contrast the sky more effectively. In person I'd see the light as being flat and note the absence of specular highlights but the planes would still be perceived as white in the 245-250 eye dropper range. Also the crop / composition of the planes in the lower right corner looks arbitrary, as if you had your head in the clouds and lost track of what was happening on the bottom of the shot when taking it.
You are exactly correct, my head was in the clouds totally ignoring the foreground...actually looking for some backgrounds should I ever cross the line of altering images on a grand scale.
Will try to improve foreground...I'd like to see the planes closer to white than the current tone...an oppotunity for some HDR play.
In addition to lightening the foreground I lightened the center of the clouds, opening the mask on the screen layer in the shape of a funnel cloud reaching down under the darker clouds in the upper right to the parked planes in the corner, trying to create a contrast defined eye track to follow between foreground and sky through the middle of the photo between the \\ // pattern of the clouds.
Well, as you said the intent was to grab some nifty clouds to drop in another photo later. Play if you like, but I wouldn't worry too much with trying to correct the entire image.
If you plan to make a sky catalog, be sure to notate the details of each photo, including time of day, date and compass position. That way you can match to your needs and come up with a more realistic looking composite.
The architectural photographer Julius Schulman had hundreds of negatives of sky and lawns, since he often had to shoot before landscaping was finished.
dmacmillan wrote:
Well, as you said the intent was to grab some nifty clouds to drop in another photo later. Play if you like, but I wouldn't worry too much with trying to correct the entire image.
If you plan to make a sky catalog, be sure to notate the details of each photo, including time of day, date and compass position. That way you can match to your needs and come up with a more realistic looking composite.
The architectural photographer Julius Schulman had hundreds of negatives of sky and lawns, since he often had to shoot before landscaping was finished.
Great tips Doug - thanks! I would never have thought to keep track of details to match images.
