Fire in the sky

[Judy Howle]

The sunset Monday night was pretty spectacular and I captured many different moods in the clouds in the west, north and south with rain in the distance in many of them. This is one of the "fiery" ones as the sun went down below the horizon.
You can see the many different cloudscapes in the gallery at http://southernexposure.zenfolio.com/fireinthesky
All processed in Lightroom 3, some with split toning in the highlights to enhance color. Some have Topaz Adjust filter applied. This one is mostly split toning which I just discovered and really like.

[Hilary Hann]

Certainly is a beautiful sky and I like the treat you've used to bring out those colours and tones.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Judy, in the future please post your shooting specs so we can better analyze how the image was taken. The sky is beautiful, very dramatic and totally dominant. Good job minimalising the shoreline and water since IMO the sky carries the image.
Apparantly you shot this at a very wide angle which slightly distorted the left side of the shoreline. You can fix this in PS...

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Hilary, I appreciate the comment!

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Dave. Sorry I forgot the specs which are Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 24 - 105 IS L, f/7.1 @ 24 mm, 1/60, ISO 400.
I understand how you might think the image is distorted but actually the shoreline turns and comes toward me there, the south edge of the lake. The next image I post will be to the southeast of that one and almost due south of where I was standing.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Judy, Thanks for posting the info. You didn't state if you used a tripod or not but shooting at 1/60 sec HH is indeed risky. If you are using a tripod I would suggest you going to a higher fstop in the future. They offer alot of benefits when shooting landscapes...one never worries about camera shake.

[Judy Howle]

No I don't use a tripod. I'm a golden ager and I move around a lot shooting sunsets at the Waterway including walking out on a pier with no railing a good ways and just can't manage one. I shoot sunsets for my own enjoyment. For commissioned jobs I always use one.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Judy,
For me this image is just a bit unbalanced to the right......with all the dramatic color mostly there. I think for this to become more effective, you need to try and bring up as much detail as you can in the LH sky.....and perhaps a touch int he water too. Not the most dramatic shoreline.....gets a bit more interesting to the left.....you may want to think about including a curve to the landscape and going vertical....leading up to the dramtic sky part......if that is even possible. Just some food for thought next time out.