Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Milan Hutera
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Hello everybody!

Last monday I went out to chase some storm clouds as I saw some potential in the evening light. I arrived at the selected location (one of my favorite spots). Upon arival, I was greeted by "meh clouds" but that started to change after a while. The roles changed and I was no longer the one chasing the strom light. The storm was chasing me. The rain started along with some wind. I decided to walk back to the car, expecting the worst (the walk took about 7-8 minutes). I got to the car moments before the crazy rain and wind hit. I waited out the storm in the car and as the storm was ending a beautiful rainbow appeared. I hurried back to the spot (again, walking for about 7 minutes), my sweatpants and shoes completely wet and the following scene appeared for about 5 minutes.

I only wish the rainbow appeared slightly to the left. Whenever I visit this location, I avoid this particular direction, because there are two powerlines visible on the right horizon. They are quite far and not very tall on photos (despite being the high voltage ones), but they are visible. I almost never do any sort of object removal from the photo, but in this case, I decided to clone out the powerlines. I think in this day and age, when people add trees to iconic locations in Venice or Prague, or do other nonsensical edits, being open about removing something (that's barely visible in the distance) is, IMO the key. Since the Sun was direcly behind me, I also had to retouch the shadow of my tripod (I ducked out of the way as much as I could).

I hope you'll enjoy this (slightly altered) reality.

Tech: Canon 5DIV, Canon 16-35 L IS, CPL, single photo.

Jun 19, 2022 at 02:05 PM

Ross Martin
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Milan, nice work chasing the weather and light and making a wonderful composition! I absolutely agree that removing the background powerlines was the right choice. Voting.

Jun 19, 2022 at 02:18 PM

junglialoh
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Well presented wonderful centric and emphatic tree celebrated with half circled rainbow

Jun 19, 2022 at 02:23 PM

Rajan Parrikar
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Beautiful image.

Perfectly alright, in my view, to clone out power lines or other distracting objects not materially relevant to the central theme of the scene (unless one aims to merely document the location or it is a photojournalism project). Not alright (again, to my way of thinking) to insert objects not present in the scene or distort the scene way beyond a point of what was experienced at the time the photograph was taken and then present it as a photograph (it then becomes digital art or whatever the term of preference is). Of course, "way beyond a point" will vary from person to person although I believe it is possible to find broad agreement.

Jun 19, 2022 at 02:59 PM

Jeffrey
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Beautiful imaging, Milan.

You need to make the image how you want it to be. It's your vision and your interpretation. I used to worry about distracting elements at the scene of the shoot, but now I put myself in the proper position to get the comp as I want it to be. That often introduces distracting objects. I know right then that they will be removed later, as I visualize my results. Don't worry about altering reality. That's what photography is. Simply by pointing a camera at a scene and making a photograph, you are already altering reality by the restriction of the angle of view and the image borders you choose. It is an interpretive art. Use your tools to create your image.

In this case I would have moved the camera to the left a bit more to center the tree and rainbow. If poles or partial structures or tractors appear then, don't worry. Just repair it later!

Jun 19, 2022 at 04:47 PM

Starfire8
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

A very beautiful composition and I am happy that you removed those distracting powerlines! Excellent work and perseverance!

David

Jun 20, 2022 at 11:41 AM

40Driggs
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Great composition and I agree with the consensus opinion that choosing objects to remove is part of the "vision" of a photograph. I think the degree that we choose to do so is subjective and I respect the various opinions, but tend to disagree with either of the extreme ends of the argument (don't change anything or completely over-the-top changes).

Jun 20, 2022 at 11:52 AM

jaggedhorizon
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

A wonderful image. And I agree with the other comments on eliminating small distractions.

Jun 20, 2022 at 03:48 PM

Milan Hutera
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Thanks to everybody for your comments, I appreciate them. The lines are only about 90 pixels tall so not a huge tall object was removed, but they do go quite far into the scene. I always try to compose my shots so I don't have to remove any major objects, but in this case I made an exception.

Jeffrey - I actually do have a centered version, but I also decided to raise my camera to create a bit of breathing room between the rainbow and the top of the tree and I don't like the foreground as much. Also the rainbow was much fainter. it only lasted a couple of minutes. I might work on that version too.

Jun 21, 2022 at 01:56 PM

Mark Metternich
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

So very nice!
Everyone is different obviously, but the removal of distraction elements (ALL of them) I think is an extremely powerful, yet underutilized method of dramatically improving images.

Jun 23, 2022 at 04:07 PM

Apaolino21
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Epic! What a beautiful photo

Jun 23, 2022 at 06:12 PM

tjbel05
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Storm Chaser - Rainbow Catcher

Absolutely beautiful.

Jun 24, 2022 at 08:39 AM


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