Bringing out clouds

[cphoniball]

Here's an example of how a simple processing tool (levels) can take an image from "meh" to striking. Here's the final product, and you can see the original shot in the attachment.



Basically, if you take a shot with a cloudy sky in it, just make sure to expose the picture so that the sky doesn't blow out. You should be able to set your camera to blink the highlights if they blow out, or alternatively check your histogram to make sure that the tonal values aren't right up to the right hand side. You'll probably want to use RAW if you're planning on doing this, as I'm pretty sure JPEG would discard some of the data you're looking for (although I've never tried, so it could very well work). Best not to take chances though.

Now, it's very simple to bring out the clouds in photoshop (GIMP works as well, as should any other image processor with the levels tool). Make an adjustment layer using levels and drag the black point up to your liking. I usually hold alt while I drag the black point up and wait until some true black just starts appearing in the image. This will get you 90% of what you see above.

Large radius (very large, think 60-150 pixels) high pass filters or unsharp masks can further increase local contrast. If you use a high pass filter, set the layer mode to soft light or overlay and decrease the opacity so it's not overpowering. Unsharp masks are usually best done on a duplicate layer, and you can decrease the opacity if the effect is too strong (normal blend mode). Careful not to overdo it with these... I'm guilty of using these too much, believe me....

A similar process was used to bring out the clouds in this image as well.

Hope this was helpful, if you have any other techniques to bring out clouds (filters, anyone?) be sure to post em.

[garrettth]

sweet... thanks dewd

[Sterling]

Very helpful post and great examples. Thanks.