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"When clouds are painting the sky"!

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Horst Keller

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Clouds can be so beatiful.
Some clouds seen today out of my home office!

Please post some of your own cloud pictures if you like.

Cheers
Horst&D30
 
I always like clouds. I wish I had a camera when I was at school in New Mexico. That is true cloud country without comparison.
Here's a couple I took early on with the 990. My back yard.



 
I just discovered what photoshop's Image--> adjust--> auto levels does to a cloudy sky. It makes the look a little artificial, but has quite a dramatic effect. Do you think it is a little too overdone this way?



Johannes
Rob Patterson said:
I always like clouds. I wish I had a camera when I was at school in
New Mexico. That is true cloud country without comparison.
Here's a couple I took early on with the 990. My back yard.



Click to expand...
 
Vibrant, Horst! I recently posted this unusual formation, reminded me of God's hand in the sky...
©Marilu

 
Some beautiful images, Horst! Clouds fascinate me, always changing shape, the way they look in different types of light.


Horst Keller said:






Clouds can be so beatiful.
Some clouds seen today out of my home office!

Please post some of your own cloud pictures if you like.

Cheers
Horst&D30
Click to expand...
 
Horst,

I love clouds too. These are great. I remember when we were young and had more time. We would lay on our backs for hours and pick out different shapes they form.

Randy :-)
 
MN Randy said:
Horst,

I love clouds too. These are great. I remember when we were young
and had more time. We would lay on our backs for hours and pick
out different shapes they form.

Randy :-)
Click to expand...
Hi Randy,
Yeah, we too where trying to figure out what the forms of the clouds may
show. Like cars, mountains, animals, etc...
Childhood was great! :-)

Horst
 
johannes postma said:
I just discovered what photoshop's Image--> adjust--> auto levels
does to a cloudy sky. It makes the look a little artificial, but
has quite a dramatic effect. Do you think it is a little too
overdone this way?
Click to expand...
Clouds are a very attractive subject to photograph. All photographers, both beginners and those with experience are attracted to them.

The dynamic range of both digital and film are limited when compared to the human eye. We often attempt to compensate for the cameras shortcomings in the chemical or digital darkroom and it's easy to overdo things.

I personally almost never use autolevels. Once in a blue moon it works well for a "quick and dirty fix". You can't really overdo or underdo things with autolevels as you don't have any control. The program is calling the shot.

Photoshop is an interesting program. It also takes some time to really understand all that it can do.

Take a look at your photo and concentrate on seeing the green, red and blue speckles contained in the clouds. Ask yourself; "do I want those there?" If you do, then the photo is fine. If you don't, then the photo needs work or more precisely less work or a different set of tools to accomplish the job. As you asked in your post, " do you think I overdid it", ask the same question when your doing the work. Sometimes I'll get up and go outside for ten minutes or more and then come back. The eyes can be fooled when you sit in front of the monitor constantly. Taking a break and coming back will change your entire grasp of the subject your working on. Excesses, when using this technique many times will suddenly jump out at you.

Another method is to use the undo, redo command. This works really well. That's why it's there in my opinion.

Learn to duplicate layers. Adjusting a duplicated layer will allow you to vary the amount of adjustment you've made. In addition, with layers you can turn them on and off to see the results with and without you adjustments! :)

Always work on a copy of your image. That'll allow you to go back to the original should you overdo the copy your working on and saved it in error.

Photoshop takes some time to learn. The best way is to get the rudiments out of the way first. The best book I've seen written on using Photoshop for beginners is the W.O.W. books. They are very well done. They don't dwell on technical details but lead the reader through Photoshop operations with image files in a step by step well explained manner.
 
I enjoyed your clouds, nice pictures. We get to see quite a few here in Fl this time of year! Here's one of mine.



Ron
 
Rob,

thanks for your comments. I agree with you, of course, that all these additional colors are a little much. I still have a lot ( if not everything) to learn about photoshop and use the autolevels only for fun. I put the pictue in my gallery just to maek this post. When I drive around wearing sunglasses, the cloudscapes can seem so amazing. Then, when I take my glasses off and take a shot of the clouds, they obviously are a lot less dramatic. Discovering the autolevel adjustment gave me the feeling of

"here, this is more like it was" , even though it is grossly overdone. I will work further to understand how I can adjust my pictures more subtly to get more of the effect I experienced on the spot. I understand there are filters that will give the sky a more intense blue. Must do more research..

thanks again,

johannes
Rob Patterson said:
johannes postma said:
I just discovered what photoshop's Image--> adjust--> auto levels
does to a cloudy sky. It makes the look a little artificial, but
has quite a dramatic effect. Do you think it is a little too
overdone this way?
Click to expand...
Clouds are a very attractive subject to photograph. All
photographers, both beginners and those with experience are
attracted to them.
The dynamic range of both digital and film are limited when
compared to the human eye. We often attempt to compensate for the
cameras shortcomings in the chemical or digital darkroom and it's
easy to overdo things.
I personally almost never use autolevels. Once in a blue moon it
works well for a "quick and dirty fix". You can't really overdo or
underdo things with autolevels as you don't have any control. The
program is calling the shot.
Photoshop is an interesting program. It also takes some time to
really understand all that it can do.
Take a look at your photo and concentrate on seeing the green, red
and blue speckles contained in the clouds. Ask yourself; "do I want
those there?" If you do, then the photo is fine. If you don't, then
the photo needs work or more precisely less work or a different set
of tools to accomplish the job. As you asked in your post, " do you
think I overdid it", ask the same question when your doing the
work. Sometimes I'll get up and go outside for ten minutes or more
and then come back. The eyes can be fooled when you sit in front of
the monitor constantly. Taking a break and coming back will change
your entire grasp of the subject your working on. Excesses, when
using this technique many times will suddenly jump out at you.
Another method is to use the undo, redo command. This works really
well. That's why it's there in my opinion.
Learn to duplicate layers. Adjusting a duplicated layer will allow
you to vary the amount of adjustment you've made. In addition, with
layers you can turn them on and off to see the results with and
without you adjustments! :)
Always work on a copy of your image. That'll allow you to go back
to the original should you overdo the copy your working on and
saved it in error.
Photoshop takes some time to learn. The best way is to get the
rudiments out of the way first. The best book I've seen written on
using Photoshop for beginners is the W.O.W. books. They are very
well done. They don't dwell on technical details but lead the
reader through Photoshop operations with image files in a step by
step well explained manner.
Click to expand...
 
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