Baobab stormfront

[Marc Mol]

The green season in Ruaha Nat Park, makes for some impressive storm activity here I used the FG of the iconic baobab tree to accompany a massive stormfront that hit us within minutes.

Nikon D700 24-70 f/2.8 f/16 8s ISO200@ 24mm. F/F, tripod/timer, Curves, levels, mid tone adj- TK masking/cloud sharpening, in ACR/PS CC '14.

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Diane Miller]

Wow -- green it is! Love the composition and the lightning bolt couldn't be better!!

[Don Railton]

Hi Marc,

Nice timing to get the spectacular bolt included. I do think the tree is a bit too dominant & centered with the lightening squeezed in on the side, but understand you don't (well I don't anyway...) have a lot of choice where the lighting will strike.... So, not really being critical, but would prefer if the cards fell a little different for you. I do see a bit of masking artifact either side of the trunk.

regards

DON

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Diane & Don


Hi Marc,

Nice timing to get the spectacular bolt included. I do think the tree is a bit too dominant & centered with the lightening squeezed in on the side, but understand you don't (well I don't anyway...) have a lot of choice where the lighting will strike.... So, not really being critical, but would prefer if the cards fell a little different for you. I do see a bit of masking artifact either side of the trunk.

regards

DON

Good pickup on the masking issue, and my sloppy work, corrected RP submitted.

Can't disagree that I wouldn't have wanted this wider Don:w3, however being backed up against our vehicle (already @ 24) and with a large herd of nervous ele's behind us, it was as wide as I could go unfortunately. :Whoa!:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love it Marc - the lightning bolt is a nice touch and the colours rock.
I do think I might have personally preferred a slightly "wider" scene, with the tree less dominant but still dominant (make sense?), but it still works very well as presented!

[Dvir Barkay]

Nice shot, agree on it being wider. There are a couple of casts in the image, namely a green and blue casts. I removed those and desat the greens as they are a bit too much for me personally. Can't say I don't envy you for being in such an amazing place!
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[Marc Mol]

[QUOTE=Dvir Barkay;1059970]Nice shot, agree on it being wider. There are a couple of casts in the image, namely a green and blue casts. I removed those and desat the greens as they are a bit too much for me personally. Can't say I don't envy you for being in such an amazing place! [/QUOTE

Appreciate the RP VDvir, however it just looks terribly flat now IMO, :e3

the green & blue perceived casts were exactly what was witnessed, it's not called the green season here for nothing, with that colour really being very vibrant indeed.
If you had ever travelled here you'd know exactly what I mean.:w3

[Dvir Barkay]

Ok I see. The greens might have been brighter and lushier I do not know. I have been all over the world (including in the rainy seasons) and have never seen such greens, but maybe the greens in Ruaha NP are extra special I cannot say. The one cast that I am 100% right about is the blue cast though, it is a camera issue that all cameras have in such situations when they give haze and clouds a blue cast, look at the distant mountains in your original and my repost and see how the blues have been lessened in my repost, and there is no such thing as blue casted haze even under cloudy conditions that would be so blue to the eye, camera sensors see differently than our eyes, I just tried correcting that here. Of course each one of us has their own artistic interpretation and license and as such there shall always be differing opinions on the look of each and every image.

[Diane Miller]

On a second look, I felt the scene was a little underexposed. I've tried to hold the beautiful vibrant colors. Did a Curve, puled up more on the darker tones. Then a quick mask with soft brush on the center of the tree and lightening with curves. Then a subtle burn (Curves again) at the base and on the brighter parts of the sky. Blues did wind up lighter and I darkened them back somewhat but probably didn't go as far as you would like. They could be further tweaked as desired.

Hope you don't mind my playing with this gorgeous image!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Marc, lovely capture of the approaching storm. A little wider would be nice but by no means a deal breaker. My initial thought was that the blues are bit too much, but since you have explained that they are as witnessed then I would leave them as is.

[Jerry van Dijk]

I can't believe you got that lighting at just the right spot! Very appealing image. I prefer the colors and exposure of the OP, they add to the storm experience IMO.