Threatening Skies

[CaptainNH]

I had the dubious pleasure of being the designated driver on a two-day visit to the wineries in the Hunter Valley over the weekend so, whilst my wife and friends were sampling the wines, I had an opportunity to grab some shots between rain showers.

Atypically for Australia, I endured two days of bland overcast weather with a seemingly homogenous grey sky and very, very flat light - not ideal for the landscape shots I had in mind. Undeterred, I persevered, with the intention of seeing if I could get some moody b&w shots out of the weekend.

With some judicious underexposing to retain some detail in the sky, some fiddling with curves and a touch of burning, my first attempt looks like this.........


Canon EOS 5D Mark II | 1/100 | f/8.0 | 17 mm | ISO100

I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't some etherial shaft of light lighting up the winery , but I'm reasonably happy with the way the sky turned out. I think the tree on the left gets lost in the mountain behind, but haven't yet found the patience to zoom in and dodge the hillside.

Any comments or suggestions on ways to improve the composition or tonal range of the shot?

All comments and criticism gratefully received.

Cheers!

[daddyoproductions]

Wish I could help you with tonal ranges, but I can't Maybe a bit brighter, though. I will say it feels heavy to the left for me, like it wants to tip me over. I like the sky!
~C

[CaptainNH]

Thanks Carrie, I lightened the whole shot and dodged a little of the dark hillside before printing myself a 12x16 which is now hanging on my office wall.

It still looks heavy on the left Maybe I should pull out an Ansel Adams book

[BBenson]

Originally Posted by CaptainNH

It still looks heavy on the left Maybe I should pull out an Ansel Adams book

Interesting shot. Check his books on the zone system and getting detail in the shadows. Might work some on the left side in color before taking it to b&w, separate the color tones a bit more. I'm guessing you may have underexposed some detail there away

Bob

[CaptainNH]

Thanks for your advice Bob. I've had a play with the original image and it looks like there's plenty of detail left in the shadows.

Back to the photoshop drawing board - time to work on another layer

[stevoarnold]

this has the makings of a nice shot, i think your composition is good. what I feel would really make it stand out is a bit more contrast.

[CaptainNH]

Thanks Stevo, I totally agree. It will get a bit more of a tweak in the morning then I'll post up the results!