Storms over the Kalahari

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm just back from a break to the Kalahari desert with my lovely wife.
I took quite a few landscape photos on this trip due to the stormy weather we experienced - a lot of it from the vehicle though (dangerous lions about, so no walkabouts allowed except in the confines of the camps). This image was taken on our first afternoon from next to our cabin set high on a dune in the Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp. This camp is unfenced though, so I couldn't venture too far off!

The wind was pumping so hard here that a tripod was moot - I resorted to shooting handheld, pushing the ISO a bit and trying to time my shutter finger with the lightning bolts (some of which struck quite close to me). I hope you like it...

Techs:
Nikon D810
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm
f8.0 | 1/60 SS | ISO-1250
Single Exposure

[Dvir Barkay]

Really nice, love the lightening. Its too saturated in the blues, and too magenta and cyan for me. I took it into photoshop. desat the blues by 50 and Cyans by 30. Then used color balance and made it 2 red, 2 green, and 3 yellow. I think it helps to give the greens a green look and the clouds a more natural greyish look.
147585

[Morkel Erasmus]

Cheers Dvir. I actually already took out a lot of blue, cyan and magenta. Your version is actually not how it looked to my eyes...it was quite dramatic the colour and mood!
Those little shrubs have a strange silvery-blue hue naturally in bright daylight even. :e3

Nevertheless I'll play around and might settle on something between our versions...:t3

[Dvir Barkay]

Ok, well, try what works for you. You can also selectively mask the desat so that the clouds get it, but the plants don't as well.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Yup, got it. :w3
I tried now and what works best for me is just a slight adjustment in "color balance". The storm clouds were deep blue on multiple occasions during our trip, so didn't want to get rid of that look&feel.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Morkel, great capture, nice and ominous! Must have been quite a spectacle. I don't mind the blue color of the clouds too much, although I do think that the blue cast on the plants is a bit too much. I am bothered a bit by the quite overpowering empty sand patch in the FG, which draws my eye away from that spectacular storm. I tried several crops from the bottom, but I'm not sure what I like best. Two options I liked: 1) crop from the bottom until the diagonal line of grass on the hill in the FG ends in the LL corner; 2) slightly above that, placing the horizon in the middle of the frame (yes, breaking the rules of landscape photography!).

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Morkel, lovely storm scene. Those ominous clouds and lightning bolt really make this image. I like the clouds in Dvir's repost as the gray tones make them even more threatening, giving a real sense of the weather before you...somewhere in between would probably work well too.

[Don Railton]

Hi Morkel

A really Good capture... those clouds are very ominous, and any close strikes would have had me scurrying inside, assuming there was an inside to scurry to... Of the suggestions made I like the option 1 crop Of jerries, with reduced FG, as I do think the cloud is the hero in the image and that line of grass works as a lead for me from the corner to the cloud. I also prefer the colours in Dvir's post although I understand why you wont want to change from what you saw...

I hope you both enjoyed your trip..

DON

DON

[Valerio Tarone]

Hi Morkel, I slept in the same place, killikrankie. Dramatic scenery. I agree more with Jerry: I mind more for the FG as the grass in FG distract my eye from the dramatic sky. I should crop a part of the bottom.

[Lyle Gruby]

This is fantastic Morkel. I can't believe you got a lightning bolt shooting at 1/60! The placement of the bolt even helps with your compositional balance. I love the blue in the clouds, but could see it might be a little heavy in the plants. I also think a little crop from the bottom would do you some good. I'd crop until there's just a little bit of sand underneath the plant in the middle.

[Don Lacy]

Wonderful image Morkel I like the original colors but I that type of guy.