The Ranger next to me said that in 12 years of working at Crater Lake, hiking daily and often hiking the rim on his days off, he had never seen anything like it.
The storm or the crazy photographer running back and forth?
Super image Mark!
Everything comes together here in the composition, and also the timing (to capture that lightning and rainbow)!
But...
I think I'm falling into the camp of Ben and Majeed here with this one also (below). I've looked at this on my calibrated Dell also, and also within three different browsers, and there's something that seems just a little unfinished as far as color here. Not false saturation, perhaps just a little lack of vibrancy, but I've seen enough monsoon storms to know there's room to more aggressively express this one in a bolder way. Not just sky, but perhaps a little foreground work (I want to feel the wet). Somewhere something has changed a little with your processing, some would say for the better, but I think it's suddenly a little too conservative. And I'm also thinking the Sony A7 raw file processing versus Canon (I thought you were contemplating a new D810 too).
Still, a fantastic capture. No doubt at all it will be the feature thread of the week!
---------------------------------------- Ben Horne wrote:
Killer shot Mark! I know that you paid careful attention to the saturation to keep it in the realm of plausible reality, but I think you should bump the saturation back up a bit. I would expect those sunlit clouds to be a bolder color, as well as the colors in the rainbow. I certainly wouldn't go over the top, but I feel like you approached this one with perhaps too much restraint when it comes to color.
---------------------------------------------
MajeedB wrote:
I agree. I know a lot of guys were pushing you away from color, because they couldn't believe how vibrant the colors could be. But thunderstorm light has a tendency to be really intense-- and sadly, I found myself alone beating that "color drum".
But you know my thoughts on this already. And like I said, when a shot is this good, there is quite a bit of room in the realm of subjective. My personal taste would be to see more saturation.
Everything comes together here in the composition, and also the timing (to capture that lightning and rainbow)!
But...
I think I'm falling into the camp of Ben and Majeed here with this one also (below). I've looked at this on my calibrated Dell also, and also within three different browsers, and there's something that seems just a little unfinished as far as color here. Not false saturation, perhaps just a little lack of vibrancy, but I've seen enough monsoon storms to know there's room to more aggressively express this one in a bolder way. Not just sky, but perhaps a little foreground work (I want to feel the wet). Somewhere something has changed a little with your processing, some would say for the better, but I think it's suddenly a little too conservative. And I'm also thinking the Sony A7 raw file processing versus Canon (I thought you were contemplating a new D810 too).
Still, a fantastic capture. No doubt at all it will be the feature thread of the week!
mike717 wrote:
The storm or the crazy photographer running back and forth?
Super image Mark!
Mike
I am very confident that the answer to your question is "the crazy photographer running back and forth" !!
Cheers, you, a very seasoned professional photographer, Mark!
I like the subtle? and kind of soft color rendition here a lot.
Out of sheer curiosity, I'd be interested to see a mock-up of what you thought was "true" to the actual light of the time. Not for art's sake but more for journalistic interest! It looks like an amazing light show and it's incredible how, sometimes, completely natural light can introduce the "nahhh, that's not real" response when you show someone.
It's sure a special shot, though, hopefully it goes up on a wall somewhere.
Mark, I spent a few years close to Crater Lake(Medford,Grants Pass,Murphy) and know the layout well!
This is one, if not, the best captures I have ever seen! Yes I agree with Ben about possibly bumping up the saturation.
You always are there at the right time and get the right photo. This also could be a contest entry Mark!!!
Just a fine composition! I just sit here and stare!!!!!
You have the "twin sisters" in the bg and the lighting bolt is perfecto!!!
WOW!!!
Dan
Killer shot Mark and the saturation is looking pretty schweet here right where it is.
Were you shooting by yourself or was this on one of your workshops?
Everything came together here for you. Better start buying lottery tickets, you're luck is on fire!
I too think you could push the saturation a bit. Nothing wrong with a little dash of surrealism! Either way it will look incredible printed large under proper lighting.
So, are you not using the 810 now and just the AR7?
What is left to say Mark? My jaw is still on the floor from the first one, I guess it'll just live there for a while. Dood you're going to be winning back to back thread of the month! :P
was it really like that, brighter inside the rainbow and much darker for the clouds just outside the rainbow? maybe the sun was beaming out of the bright center blue area and the angles to make the rainbow from that were what also lit up the clouds and it all aligned together? it looks like a special effect where you brightened inside the rainbow and darkened outside, but I guess it could be a natural beaming? pretty insane if so, not sure I've ever seen it come together in such a crazy way!
