Approaching Thunderstorm

[Christian Neumann]

During my last visit in the U.S this summer, I watched this approaching thunderstorm from a vantage point east of Sharp’s Corner, South Dakota (close to the Badlands NP).
Although the storm did not produce much lightning, I was lucky enough to catch this cloud-to-ground flash.
I love the rolling prairie and the dramatic cloud structures.

RAW image processed with Lightroom
EOS 7D, tripod, 16-35 mm @ 35, ISO 100, f2,8, 1/125 sec, Manual

[Chris Korman]

Nice capture. I might consider trimming off a small portion of the top the image around an 1 inch or there abouts. I'd also try experimenting with brightening the foreground hill-scape.

[Chris Korman]

Here's something like what I am seeing:

[Jay Gould]

While I think the RP does the scene justice, the question remains whether at the time of capture the entire scene was a dark as presented in the OP.

Looking at the RP again I think the foreground, at least parts of it are too light. It is suggestive of an opening in the clouds and i do not believe at the moment of capture there was any opening.

[Gary Hamilton]

I love how the lightning shoots out of that pink section of the clouds. I think I'd like the foreground somewhere between the OP and the RP, although Jay makes a valid point in that we did not witness the actual event. I'd also take a bit more off the top for more of a pano look but not so much that the darkest sections of the clouds in and near the URHC are removed (the sky would be too gray without those blacks). Cheers.

[Robert Amoruso]

Christian,Welcome to BPN and the Landscape forum.

I agree that the FG 1/2 between the OP and the re-post looks to be a good place to be with that. I also feel the pano crop is stronger compositionally.

[Andrew Aveley]

pano her makes it really strong and adds to the mood. again some wise words :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

super drama and mood! I too think the foreground in the repost is a tad bright...

[Andrew McLachlan]

Christian, welcome! Very nice post. Agree on the foreground being a tad bright in the repost. I think Robert is right with having it somewhere between the original post and the repost. Nice one!

[Chris Korman]

Whether or not the "real" scene had a brighter FG is not really the issue for me, as what the camera captures is not reality. I think it is up to the photographer to determine how they wish to express their vision and interpretation of the scene, and what they wish to emphasize.

I think the original image looks like it may be about a stop under exposed, since the OP has not made any comment on my reinterpretation who knows where they want to go with this image. But I would like to hear from them.

[Christian Neumann]

Dear all,

thank you very much for your valuable and most helpful suggestions - indeed, the scene was somewhat brighter than the OP and the original RAW was even a little bit over-exposed. I darkened the sky significantly and added more contast to make it appear more dramatic.
I agree with you that the image benefits from a stronger panorama crop. Moreover, in the image below I reduced the color saturation of the foreground to some extend and accentuated the area with the lighning by making it a little bit brighter. Let me know what you think - better or worse?

Cheers, Christian






http://www.tornadoropa.eu