Cotton Candy Cloud

[David Stephens]

136409

These are real evening twilight colors in Colorado. This is about half of a wave cloud on the lea side of the Rocky Mountains (you can see Pike's Peak in the lower right). The upper level winds are trying to rip this into a series of lenticular clouds, but with the sun down, that isn't going to happen. Shot from Cherry Creek State Park, a few miles South of downtown Denver.

Canon 5D MkIII, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS at 24mm
Av Mode, ISO 800, 0EV, f/8, resulting in 1/25-sec., hand held
Raw conversion with DxO Optics Pro 9.1 with some dust removal in CS4

[Diane Miller]

Wow! Those look like some mean (and beautiful!) clouds. I can imagine the turbulence up there on that leading edge.

What would you think about cutting out the FG and just making it a cloudscape? I find I keep going back and forth to the ground when I want to stay up in the cloud. There is so much to look at up there!

[Don Lacy]

Wonderful colors, shape and form to these clouds. Not so sure about cropping out the foreground as this puts the bottom of the could formation to low in the frame for my taste.

[David Stephens]

I'm torn. What about cropping about half way through the FG?

[Diane Miller]

Or just darken the detail in the FG. I don't mind it being there, but I don't want to find anything to look at in it that would compete with the clouds.

[David Stephens]

Good idea about darkening.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi David - nice cloudscape. I like the ground as an anchor. Darkening it might be a good alternative. The horizon seems to be curved slightly, not sure if it is natural or due to the lens. Either way I might try straightening it.

TFS,
Rachel

[David Stephens]

Yes Rachel, the horizon is rising as it nears the Rocky Mountains and particularly Pikes Peak on the right.

[Rachel Hollander]

David - it's not the rise so much as the sag in the middle that looks a little weird.

Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

That's pure cotton candy!! :5
Awesome colours and clouds and good call on the minimal foreground. I too notice the slump in the centre of the horizon but also don't know the real lay of the land here.
I agree with darkening somewhat, David.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Beautiful David...great advice already given...I would crop just above the car on the left.