Clouds are not always easy to photograph. The camera could have the exposure set to get a good picture of the clouds, but then everything on the ground is black. Or if the ground is exposed, they clouds will just be white blobs with no definition. Or you could even have a picture with part of the clouds being black and part being white blobs. Cameras and computer monitors just don't have the dynamic range that the human eye does. So I use exposure bracketing to get a "properly" exposed picture, an underexposed picture (properly exposed for the bright areas), and an over exposed picture (properly exposed for the dark areas). Then I use Photomatix to combine the three into a picture that shows everything I want to see.
Sometimes it bothers me a little that these combined images look sort of artificial. Then I remember that my pictures are not just documentation of what's there; they are art. So I can do anything I want. I like the result, so that's all that matters. If somebody out there doesn't like my pictures, I'm going to make them look at them until they puke. Just kidding. If somebody doesn't like my pictures, they can just go away. Anyway, here are the pictures.
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| 2008_08_26 |
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2 comments:
Art,
These photos are really good. I know you were wanting to get into some wilder surroundings before shooting these pictures, but the smattering of civilization that appears on the ground of these photos is also interesting. It still emphasizes that the clouds are the most salient feature of the environment at the moment you snapped the photos. The fact that human objects are so dwarfed by the amazing clouds adds an effect of its own.
Keep taking photos of the clouds there. Not every place has clouds like that. When it clouds up here for example, (and it does a lot) it completely covers the sky in a grey smear, there's nothing to photograph, so photographers here have to find other points of interest.
I agree with what you said about art too. I think the second you take a picture, no matter how realistic it may be, it still immediately becomes your representation of the world.
SCOTT
The clouds along the California coast usually seem to blend into the sky; no distinct edges. We often have pretty clouds in this part of Arizona, though.
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