Desert storm

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 28, 2011137 views6 comments

While in page for a long weekend this past march, I had planned on photographing horseshoe bend for a second time. It was near impossible to get anything from the rim of the overlook. It was either death or just don't shoot it. Instead, I scratched those plans and decided to call it a day. On the way back to the parking lot at the top of the hill I saw these incredible storm clouds out near the lake. With sunset passing about ten minutes prior, this intense twilight began to make the sky glow. As is the case when my plans fall through and great light is handed to me, I scrambled for a comp to throw together. I liked the expansive view of this sage brush with the distant storms erupting in the distance. It's that sliver of glow in the middle of the horizon that just made the trip worthwhile. It was unreal. The next day was extremely rainy (even did an antelope canyon tour in the rain) and the storms kept rolling through the area. The trip yielded some of the most incredible light displays I've seen in the desert. I can't wait to get back up there and shoot some more. As always comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7d
Canon 17-40mm @ 17mm
ISO 100
f/16
1/4 sec
3 stop and 2 stop grad ND filters stacked
Tripod

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Raymond Klassen on December 29, 2011 at 12:03 AM

I like the dramatic sky and the bright foreground. I do wish the middle was slightly brighter, although there is a lot of mood this way.

Registered on November 30, 2008, 114 Posts, 790 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on December 29, 2011 at 1:18 AM

Thanks Raymond. The middle was pretty dark as there were some strange clouds overhead and an opening over the foreground.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Anderson on December 30, 2011 at 9:26 AM

That liitle window of beautiful light over the expansive sage plain looks great! You composed the sage bushes in a nice way to add to the geometric feeling of open space. Great job to get this on the fly. As an aside, I've always wondered how Antelope would look with wet walls and beautiful light- I can't wait to see some of those images...

Registered on January 31, 2006, 228 Posts, 3072 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on December 30, 2011 at 1:51 PM

Thank you Mike, I appreciate the comments especially coming from a photographer of your caliber. When I was in upper antelope canyon there was a consistent on and off shower that still allowed for some good light. I have one frame that shows the rain drops falling into the canyon, but I find it would be quite difficult to get a photograph of the wet walls because of the way the canyon walls sometimes overhang creating nice little alcoves. It's something that you would have to find the right spot and need enough rain to do so. Even with the slightly heavy rain, the walls never appeared wet even from the top. I'm waiting for some storms to come in that way to make another trip up there, so I will have to see if I can get an image like that.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on December 30, 2011 at 7:47 PM

Peter,

Great mood and like MIke said, wonderful light and clouds on the horizon. Also agree with Raymond's comments, especially about the middle ground. The scene is so expansive that I think middle gets a little lost. Almost wish there was a little more sky too. This does have an expansive and almost desolate mood to it.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on December 30, 2011 at 9:07 PM

Thanks Lon, I'm going to go back and look into the middle ground and see if I can bring out more detail and lightness. This was pretty close to a full frame image, took some off the right side but to get the expansive view I had to shoot a bit higher.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments