Sulphur Springs Valley

I love lightning images. this is a nice one. I do think you could bring up the details in the shadowed areas more and maybe a bit more saturation. Lots of drama in the storm clouds.

Very cool shot. The shadows in the larger version reveal more detail but I might bring then out just a touch more. I think a crop of about 10% off the left and 15-20% off the top puts more attention on the lightning and valley which makes the image for me. Very nice as is though.

Very courageous of you to come to us mean people here and asking for critique ;) - That's quite an interesting shot and I like how small the lightning is and how it softly illuminates the ground below. Like Bruce mentioned you could crop a little from the top sky cause it's very empty and on top of that rather bright which starts to battle the lightning for attention. On top of the cropping you can also try to darken it down a bit. In general you can add some blue to the neutral grayish colors to emphasize to color contrasts and add even more drama.

Tonia,

Welcome to NPN and the Landscape Gallery! Great to have you here and we look forward to your images and contributions.

Wow, you certainly caught a wonderful moment of nature. I really like the expansive feel to the landscape here and the strike of lightning is of course the main story and nicely captured. Personally, I like the all the sky as it helps add to the expansiveness of this image.

I don't know what you could have done differently as far as your vantage point. I understand too it was near darkness and we can't expect too much detail in the foreground ridge, but purely from a composition and balance point of view there is quite a bit of darkness and lack of detail that it leaves me wishing for at least some detail; and really because it occupies a good bit of space. But in the end, the storm, lightning and the landscape take precedence and this is still a great capture.


Welcome,

Lon

Very impressive capture Tonia. I love the positioning of the lighting in the scene. Overall, the image does seems a little underexposed as evidenced by the noise in the sky and lack of depth in the shadow detail of the conifers. I haven't visited the Pinaleno Mountains and this looks like an awesome view.

Michael

Marvelous lightning.
The overall impact definitely is improved in the larger image. It's nice how the up-swept foreground gives way to the great texture of the land. The photo has a foggy look, and it may indeed have been a little foggy, but I think a little tweaking in curves to bring out the contrast could be useful to bring out the texture in the lower third, and to emphasize the drama in the clouds in the upper third.
A very good photo, regardless.

Welcome

Thank you all for your critiques & comments! I had thought about cropping this to a pano but thought I should present it as shot. Unfortunately this was taken on a sheer cliff so changing positions wasn't an option. As I get more skilled with Photoshop Elements, I will try to re-work this a bit. Thanks again!

Welcome Tonia! I'm trying to place the perspective here, but am not quite sure. Was this from the Riggs Lake area looking down into the Sulphur Springs Valley? I spent many years romping on Mt. Graham, and wish I had been into photography then. One of these days I hope to return and photograph that area.

Great catch of the lightning. I like the way it lights up and adds definition to the hills around it. It is quite distant, so some of the above suggestions are good ones (playing with crops and opening up the shadows).

John this is from the Riggs Lake campground. This cliff is behind the group camping area and offers great views of the sunsets. Thanks for your feedback!