Everglades storm

[Don Lacy]

In the summer you can get some nice afternoon storms in the Glades.

6D, 16-35 at 35mm, 2s at f/13, Manual Mode, Evaluative metered, ISO 400, tripod

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - Nice timing with the lightning. Did you use a lightning trigger? I think the op looks a little flat for the scene. I took the liberty of a rp with a bit of LCE to bring out more detail in the clouds and a bit more midtone contrast.

TFS,
Rachel

[gail bisson]

Great timing!
I like the OP but can see the improvement Rachel's post did. What is LCE?
I love the blues in the sky and those beautiful clouds. I find the bottom a bit "heavy" but am unsure how to advise you because you need to include the entire tree.
Do you have images without the tree so could crop some off the bottom?
Gail

[David Cowling]

Great work on the clouds and the lightning strike adds an extra dimension. Don't know that I would want to be around carrying a load of metalic photography gear! Agree about the bottom being a bit heavy but not sure what to suggest as there is not much to work on.

[Rachel Hollander]

Gail - LCE stands for Local Contrast Enhancement. It's applied using unsharp mask at lower percentages but higher radius. If you do a web search, you'll come up with lots of tutorials and explanations for use.

Sorry Don, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Rachel

[Don Railton]

Hi Don

I love those clouds, especially the section to the right of the bolt. Great timing.. Not so wild about the FG, its a bit heavy for me also. Not sure what to suggest however, other than to try a little lighter, along the lines of Rachels repost. i have put off responding to this because i was going to have a play myself, but time has got away from me. I am sure the tree has to be complete or completely gone... and maybe the very top of the cloud could be cropped to remove that light patch top RHS?

DON

[Diane Miller]

I'm late to this -- and it's another of your awesome skies! I do like the bit of punch Gail has given it. I can't resist gradients and might add some darkening to the top of the sky, to keep the eye down on the stunning lower area, and might try lightening the FG just a little more. (Gail's adjustment did that a little.) Had to have a look to see how the idea worked.

I'd also remove the light area in the UL corner and the dark bush along the left edge.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Nice one Don...I do like Rachel's repost best...fabulous clouds and lightning bolt...a little more space between the tree and the lightning would have been ideal but also lovely as is.