Storm Tension

Gallery: LandscapePosted November 6, 2013222 views21 comments

It was a clear day for the most part in the Painted Hills. Towards sunset, giant clouds began to form around the whole perimeter of the area. Shortly after this shot, all hell broke loose into the most violent thunderstorm I have ever seen in my entire life. I was going to stick around to try getting some lightning shots, but once they started striking into the valley floor and not just the peaks, I got out of there really quick. I had to drive my truck through the most intense part of the storm with really intense hail, wind, and rain. Lightning was booming and flashing all around me, and I thought my truck was going to be struck for sure. Quite a wild evening!

In processing this photo, I actually brought down some of the clipped highlights with an exposure blend, but it just didn't capture the intensity of the light that was there. I know photographers hate clipped highlights, for some reason, but I ended up just leaving them clipped to maintain a more realistic interpretation of what it was like to actually look into the Sun as it blasted through the clouds and reflected off the grasses.

Thanks for looking!

-Johan

Comments

21 comments

Comment posted by Chris Stenger on November 6, 2013 at 3:56 PM

Great image. And yes ....I hate clipped highlights, but that's your choice! Nevertheless well done.

Registered on May 9, 2013, 27 Posts, 163 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Fricke on November 6, 2013 at 4:53 PM

Incredible scene Johan! Glad you made it without being barbecued. I don't mind the blown highlights at all in this instance, I'm sure it was blinding to the naked eye and so pretty realistic. My only suggestion might be a crop off the bottom, the darker, grassless area that extends along the bottom right is distracting to me for some reason and I like it better when most of it is cropped out, not enough to get rid of the whole dark area in the corner though, that would be too much. Not a deal breaker as is. Wonderful composition and processing.

Registered on January 19, 2007, 133 Posts, 1448 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Reid on November 6, 2013 at 4:57 PM

Wonderful job Johan. Love the drama in the sky and how the composition works. Looks great in B&W. I don't mind the blown hilights in this instance as the light there looks pretty powerful. Wonderful image.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Jeffrey Sipress on November 6, 2013 at 5:37 PM

That's strong processing, but it does make a dramatic image. Nice!

Registered on February 17, 2004, 236 Posts, 1197 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on November 6, 2013 at 6:02 PM

Very dramatic. I'd love to see this in color

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on November 6, 2013 at 6:45 PM

Beautiful shot Johan, I think the composition and processing are great, and like you I have "fixed" clipped highlights before and realized that I preferred them clipped. It's an intense scene, there's just nothing like a powerful thunderstorm.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on November 6, 2013 at 7:28 PM

Extremely good rendition of this area in B+W! I am impressed with how you pulled off something so unique.

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on November 6, 2013 at 7:36 PM

John, This is super cool. Works great for me as posted... it really shows me the power of the storm and light.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Johan Eickmeyer on November 6, 2013 at 8:37 PM

Thanks for giving feedback! I am glad to hear you guys for the most part don't mind the blown highlights.

It's funny, I have no fear when playing chicken with deadly ocean waves, or coming face to face with bears, or standing on the edge of a giant cliff. But man, something about lightning just really scares the heck out of me. I don't experience it much where I'm from, and I'm sure some of you guys would have stuck it out and gotten some shots.

Registered on March 25, 2013, 36 Posts, 164 Comments

Comment posted by Ryan Shain on November 6, 2013 at 9:45 PM

I think the clipped highlights work great in presenting an awe inspiring image to the viewer. A vision well captured, and beautifully presented Johan.

Registered on February 20, 2007, 226 Posts, 4571 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on November 7, 2013 at 10:35 AM

Johan, I'm the same way with lightning. Nothing much else really scares me, but if I wind up in a lightning storm I feel just sure that i'll get hit. I think its the random nature of it, and the fact that you'd never know it was coming.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Greenwood on November 7, 2013 at 12:09 PM

Very powerful!!!!! I think that the clipped highlights are okay for this b&w composition. In a color image, they would be more of a distraction I think.

Registered on November 9, 2003, 229 Posts, 1523 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on November 7, 2013 at 2:16 PM

This is an A1 top notch image Johan. I'm one of those who usually don't care for clipped highlights but it looks very natural here and actually adds intensity to the image so your thoughts on leaving it as is works beautifully. This is very powerful. I would love to see this printed very large!

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Warren on November 7, 2013 at 2:46 PM

Very impressive, Johan! Glad you made it out safe. Love the image! I like the earlier suggestion to crop off some of the bottom grassy area; this would place more emphasis on the great sky drama. Looks great as B&W but I'd also love to see a color version. Really nice work!

Registered on May 11, 2012, 84 Posts, 931 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on November 7, 2013 at 3:15 PM

Yeah, you need to come with me chasing next spring--ill show you some violence

I really love your comp here--great light and the conversion is good. I dont really care for the blown highlights but it doesn't ruin the shot for me.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Johan Eickmeyer on November 7, 2013 at 3:38 PM

Thanks for the feedback! I think if you saw how it looks without the blown highlights, it would make more sense as to why I left them the way they are. In person, I could hardly even look into the area of the sun with strong sun glasses on. The contrast there was just remarkable. In fact, the area around the sun is actually exposure blended in this shot, which would have been even more blown out with just a single exposure. I did a 3 shot bracket and left the 3rd shot out.

Stan Rose - I've been to New Mexico and Arizona during the monsoons a number of times and have seen some epic thunderstorms. I've also been to Alabama during some huge thunder cells. Lightning wise, this storm that hit the painted hills was something on a whole different level, at least for lightning intensity. Even speaking to some of the locals, they had never seen anything like it before.

Registered on March 25, 2013, 36 Posts, 164 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Lowe on November 7, 2013 at 5:53 PM

Wow; the power and drama in the sky is truely spectacular, Johan. The clipped highlights here do not bother me at all; in fact I think they convey the intensity of the scene very well. Great job on capturing this.

Ed

Registered on February 7, 2004, 414 Posts, 7115 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on November 7, 2013 at 5:56 PM

Beautiful dramatic image. The blown highlights are not bothering me. They seem to kinda look right in this one, adding the contrast and drama.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on November 7, 2013 at 6:49 PM

I don't mind clipped highlights with sun on view. This is an awesome image which shows the power of an impending storm very well.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on November 9, 2013 at 11:16 AM

Very dramatic. Well done.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Pelton on November 10, 2013 at 9:43 AM

I agree with Kah Kit; looking into the sun you should have a small area of clipped highlights. I find that often trying to reduce that last tiny amount of blown highlights ruins the overall dynamic range and contrast. very nice image.

Registered on November 25, 2003, 380 Posts, 4647 Comments