Posted by Mike Ryan on November 12, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Taken a day or two before the recent CANP meet up. I was coming back down from the hike at McGee creek canyon and had to catch these great clouds. I used a polarizer so as a I result the top left corner is pretty dark. Curious if that is a deal breaker. Thanks for looking!
Mike, this is an excellent view of a very nice lenticular cloud hovering over the Owens Valley. The overall lighting is not the best here, but the view is still very good.
To answer your question about the use of the polarizer and the dark sky as a result, it depends upon personal views and tastes. It is almost never that I use a polarizer for anything more then reflective water issues. If you work a polarizer right you can minimize the affect and get close to a basic tone or slight darkening of the sky, but it does take practice. Before you give further thoughts of when or when not to use a polarizer you might want to read Darwin's article listed below.
The clouds are great. I think the foreground needs, well, more foreground. The contrast and detail in the clouds is right on. The very dark upper left doesn't work well for me. There's a thread on the Landscape Photo forum here at NPN that addresses how one can fix this.
I rarely use a polarizer. When I do, I use it for reducing reflections. Remember that a polarizer will have its maximum effect at 90 degress from the direction of the light source. So, if you are using a wideangle lens, a change of location may help reduce the effect.
Since I don't use a polarizeer to darken a blue sky, I usually place its value at middle grey or one stop above, which gives good color. The placement depends upon the highest values in clouds, if there are any. because I want to hold detail in them. If the dynamic range is too great, I'll move on,
I hope these hints help you,
-P
Posted by Lon Overacker on November 12, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Mike,
That is one tremendous cloud formation! Personally, I like the amount and placement of the landscape part of the image - I think it really shows the scale and how dominant and humongous the clouds are. My only nit would be the darker upper corner, but that's minor. I'd say a nice catch.
Lon
Posted by Harley Goldman on November 12, 2009 at 6:47 PM
Great clouds! I would not mind a bit more foreground, but it still works nicely as presented. The upper corner bothers me a bit, but not bad at the size presented. It might become problematic if printed large.
Posted by Robert Dayton on November 12, 2009 at 7:00 PM
The darkness in the upper left corner doesn't bother me. That's one great cloud
that you saw.
Posted by Dan Baumbach on November 13, 2009 at 12:48 PM
I don't mind the dark corner. The clouds are great.
- Dan.
Posted by Eric Good on November 13, 2009 at 6:54 PM
I like the overall balance captured here... especially with the pano treatment. The dark corner isn't a deal breaker, but I might try copying the URC and feathering it in over the ULC to create a better balance if it were mine. Other than that, this works for me.
Posted by Rudy Ruberti on November 14, 2009 at 1:53 PM
These are by far my favorite clouds and it's nice to have then along the east side. Cool shot.
Posted by Bishop Bastien on November 14, 2009 at 11:54 PM
Mike --
That is an awesome cloud...can see why you took the shot. The darkened corner is a bit too dark for my taste but it doesn't ruin the shot. Have you tried copying the upper right as mentioned or even tried darkening the upper right some as well? Just a thought...nice capture.
Discussion
9 repliesTo answer your question about the use of the polarizer and the dark sky as a result, it depends upon personal views and tastes. It is almost never that I use a polarizer for anything more then reflective water issues. If you work a polarizer right you can minimize the affect and get close to a basic tone or slight darkening of the sky, but it does take practice. Before you give further thoughts of when or when not to use a polarizer you might want to read Darwin's article listed below.
Darwin's Article
The clouds are great. I think the foreground needs, well, more foreground. The contrast and detail in the clouds is right on. The very dark upper left doesn't work well for me. There's a thread on the Landscape Photo forum here at NPN that addresses how one can fix this.
I rarely use a polarizer. When I do, I use it for reducing reflections. Remember that a polarizer will have its maximum effect at 90 degress from the direction of the light source. So, if you are using a wideangle lens, a change of location may help reduce the effect.
Since I don't use a polarizeer to darken a blue sky, I usually place its value at middle grey or one stop above, which gives good color. The placement depends upon the highest values in clouds, if there are any. because I want to hold detail in them. If the dynamic range is too great, I'll move on,
I hope these hints help you,
-P
That is one tremendous cloud formation! Personally, I like the amount and placement of the landscape part of the image - I think it really shows the scale and how dominant and humongous the clouds are. My only nit would be the darker upper corner, but that's minor. I'd say a nice catch.
Lon
that you saw.
- Dan.
That is an awesome cloud...can see why you took the shot. The darkened corner is a bit too dark for my taste but it doesn't ruin the shot. Have you tried copying the upper right as mentioned or even tried darkening the upper right some as well? Just a thought...nice capture.
Best regards -- Bishop