Strange Weather in Southwest

[John Thompson]

We have had many abnormal days here lately. Right now it is 85. Usually it is 105 or above. Here is one of my pics that has some interesting colors and clouds.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124706957@N07/14852440614/

f18 1/45 ISO 100

[John Thompson]

You can click on the image for a larger pic on Flickr.

[Aaron Geis]

Hi John @ Nikon-nut,

Great light, great atmosphere, great shot!

I would be doing some dodging and burning to try to push the drama further but that’s just me.

Have you ever tried duplicating the layer, in PS, and setting the mode on the new layer to ‘multiply’ and adding a mask to return some areas to ‘normal’?

Not for everyone but I like the way it lays up heavy shadows for added dramatics.

[John Thompson]

Hi Aaron @aarongeis I actually do that on occasion. Then I will reduce the opacity to somewhere around 50% to 60%. It can “enrich” colors so much.

[Robbie]

I only have one thing to say The Clouds my friend, it’s the only thing that is letting you’re image down.
Such a beautiful image.

[Michael Lloyd]

I have to agree with @lunac73 the clouds need some attention. There is some kind of funky coloration going on in the clouds

[caimi]

Fantastic image. The clouds look smoky in larger detail but not sure I see what Michael means about funky coloration – at least on my monitor. My weather is just the opposite this week. Usually around 85 but reaching 100 the last few days. And I don’t have the beautiful mountains.

[Michael Lloyd]

There are magenta’s and greens in the clouds

[Aaron Geis]

I see the colors too but I’ve come to think that those funky greens and magentas in actually near neutral areas are an artifact of the compression scheme Flickr uses.

[Robbie]

I would redo the image just for the sake of the clouds then blend it into this image by using a brush as you have quite a bit of de-noise ring lines through a lot of the cloud plus as @michaell-lloyd pointed out their are some strange colorization going on.

[Erik Fransman]

@nikon-nut
I really like this. Some small alterations might make it even better. As said before by others, I would try to get rid of the strange color shift and “newton rings” like effect in the clouds and put some punch (vibrance and dodging) in a few of the bushes in the foreground.

Also burn the small light bushes in the middle under and possibly heal some of the dead wood at the left side of the image.

Good work.

[Lenny Wollitz]

John @nikon-nut So, you finally got some clouds! Good for you. I’m not a landscape shooter but… I like this one a lot. The clouds in the composition make it for me. I don’t know what half the stuff is that the previous posters have mentioned so I will just be blissful in my ignorance and enjoy the shot. We like clouds here too… for the shade!

[John Thompson]

@caimi I guess you are getting some of our weather then! When I lived back in the mid-west a window a/c was mandatory! Fall is just around the corner which means football, snow and crappy weather. It is a time for us to get out of our homes after staying in all summer.

Lenny @el-dub I am not so sure I see some of the mentioned (magentas?? greens??) artifacts but I truly love the comments (always) because we attempt to improve don’t we?

Thanks everyone for the comments.

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