Rain, roads and fields

[tbob]

I have been too busy at work the last year to do much posting, and the internet at home has been too sporadic to post. Hopefully with the hiring of a new person in June I can be a bit more interactive on the site.

Until then, a few examples of some stuff I have done in the last week.

We have had a very dry winter and spring. This was the first rain for a month. Went out with the intent of getting the clouds and setting sun. Nothing. Too many clouds and no breaks After sunset (we have very long twilight here) I saw these clouds and get these before they moved off to the east.

[Cantab]

Trevor, I like all three but my two favourites are #1 and #3. The curving furrows in the foreground of #3 sweep the viewer the nto the image and towards the vanishing point.

When I saw these dark clouds and your comments about a very dry spring, they reminded me of the forest fires around Fort McMurray. Have there been wildfire problems in your area?

[tbob]

Trevor, I like all three but my two favourites are #1 and #3. The curving furrows in the foreground of #3 sweep the viewer the nto the image and towards the vanishing point.

When I saw these dark clouds and your comments about a very dry spring, they reminded me of the forest fires around Fort McMurray. Have there been wildfire problems in your area?

Just a few fires, about 40. The rain helped to control the smaller ones, but the two larger one are still burning and may burn into the late fall. Unless we get a week of solid rain there is little any human intervention will do. They are burning away from any houses so the only danger is to natural gas and oil sites; most of them have wide fire guards installed to protect from this sort of thing.

[Shadowman]

Nice series, I'm liking the color version hear as it stimulates the other senses to imagine what it would be like to hear, smell, and taste the atmosphere.

[IzzieK]

I am liking all three especially the colour version and I like the composition of #3 better as Bruce describes the curving path.

[pnodrog]

I like the composition in all of them. The first is more saturated than I like (particularly the sky) but I know many people go for that style. My favorite is the last one.

[Dave A]

I like all 3 with #1 being my favorite.

Dave

[mastamak]

Just a few fires, about 40. The rain helped to control the smaller ones, but the two larger one are still burning and may burn into the late fall.

I really like the third image. As Bruce says the curving lines are very striking and force the eye deep into the image.

The Fort McMurray fires have been in the news here in Australia and they look very terrifying. Of all the natural disasters possible I think out of control fire is one of the worst.

Grant

[ScoutR]

These are all excellent. They make me feel kind of claustrophobic.
I'm not sure about the colour in #1. it might be my screen, but the colour of the clouds does not look right. The scene is very dramatic on its own, on my screen it looks a bit overdone though.

[Donald]

I think this is magnificent (you've got to look at it in the Lightbox). In the other one, I find the sky a bit too dark and without a good range of tone. This one, on the other hand, has got the lot. Fantastic shapes and a great spread of tone. Combine that with the lines (and tones) on the land and it all adds up, in my opinion, to a superb composition. The post processing work is great in that just enough has been done to bring the very best out of the photograph.

[DanK]

I agree with several of the comments above. I think #3 is a great image, one worth putting on the wall. As Donald suggested, one has to see it in the Lightbox. I think the curved lines add a lot, and as Donald said, the tonal range is wider. I had the same response as Wendy to #1: the colors immediately struck me as unnatural and exaggerated. (I viewed it on a calibrated monitor.)

I have only one suggestion with respect to #3: it seems to me that a slight crop from the right would improve balance and bring out the curves a bit.

[tbob]

Thanks for the comments. Post processing is still a bit of a maze for me, keep getting lost down blind alleys while manipulating the image and forget where i am going. The point on the weird over saturated sky colour is well taken. Until several of you pointed it out I was oblivious to it. Well not actually oblivious but did not know where to go. The word "saturation" sparked me to think. I want a dark sky but saturating the blue and purples was the wrong approach. So I desaturated those two and dropped the luminence a bit.

Better?

[tbob]

I think this is magnificent (you've got to look at it in the Lightbox). In the other one, I find the sky a bit too dark and without a good range of tone. This one, on the other hand, has got the lot. Fantastic shapes and a great spread of tone. Combine that with the lines (and tones) on the land and it all adds up, in my opinion, to a superb composition. The post processing work is great in that just enough has been done to bring the very best out of the photograph.

I will revisit the darker image Good point

Better?

[mastamak]

Thanks for the comments. Post processing is still a bit of a maze for me, keep getting lost down blind alleys while manipulating the image and forget where i am going. The point on the weird over saturated sky colour is well taken. Until several of you pointed it out I was oblivious to it. Well not actually oblivious but did not know where to go. The word "saturation" sparked me to think. I want a dark sky but saturating the blue and purples was the wrong approach. So I desaturated those two and dropped the luminence a bit.

Better?

Yes, much better. Congratulations.

Grant