Gathering Storm ......

[LenR]

July here in the Alberta foothills brings significant thunder storm activity. It is also the time of year when the hill sides are carpeted in the golden yellow blooms of mustard and rapeseed.
This past week was no exception with storms building daily in the late afternoons and the bloom at its peak.
Image uploaded from album with some loss of nuance/quality.
Canon 5D series - 135mm @f9

[pschlute]

I like the simplicity of this

[LenR]

Hello Peter, appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts regarding this image.

[Wavelength]

So simple and beautiful; were there a chance some birds appear it distance, if you had waited for some more time there?

[LenR]

Thank you Nandakumar, appreciate your kind words. Although there are birds in these fields none were visible at the time. They tend to seek shelter in stormy weather.

[Manfred M]

Len - One of the things on my "to do" list is to spend a few weeks driving across the prairies at around this time of year when the mustard and canola plants are in bloom or a bit later when the wheat is getting closer to harvest time and shoot nothing but scenes where the foreground is simple (perhaps not quite this simple) and the sky. We were looking at doing so this year, but they COVID-19 changed those plans...

I used to spend a fair bit of time in Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton for work, but that would be in and out within a day or two of meetings, so virtually no time for getting out with the camera to shoot.

I find that this image is just a touch "hot". I would like to see more anger and texture in those storm clouds. The foreground looks fine just the way it is.

[LenR]

Hi Manfred, appreciate your input regarding this image. The stormy clouds in the image uploaded from the album do indeed look a little hot and some loss of nuance and quality is evident in the conversion. The original is somewhat more "angry" but less so than in your interpretation which is certainly an alternative.
During the past week the mustard and rapeseed reached peak bloom and was magnificent. The daily afternoon thunder storms made for dramatic if not ominous skies with the ever present risk of hail and lightening strikes. Some areas have been badly hit with hail up to golf ball size! Not something to be caught in whilst out shooting.
Thanks again for you input.

[LenR]

This image was captured about 10 minutes prior to that pictured above. The storm front was literally "boiling" over the crest of the hill a mile or so distant.
I have also taken the opportunity to run a couple of proof prints of the image using Canson Platine Fibre Rag. Since the original Canson Baryta Photograpique, a paper I have used for quite some time has been discontinued, Platine, which appears to be well regarded in printing circles seems like a good starting point.
Initial impressions are favourable. The paper has a somewhat more textured printing surface and is slightly warmer in tone than the Baryta. The contrast and tonal range seem good and the texture and nuances in the clouds printed well. I did notice that soft proofing prior to printing would indicate a slightly lesser gamut than the Baryta, at least in the yellow and green in the flowering rape seed in the image. A comparison print on Baryta seems to be in order (fortunately I still have 100 or so sheets to work with)
Would be interested to learn if other members have any thoughts about the Platine paper.



Canon 5D series, 135mm @ f9. Global and local P/P