landscapes, scenes, and people The Atmosphere, Vermillion, South Dakota

June afternoon clouds begin to boil over the Great Plains. Thanks for

visiting.

Well done - if this were the opening scene in a movie I would already anticipate something sinister.

Very nicely done. For me there is a sense of isolation and foreboding. The framing seems just right. - Roy

Matt, for some reason this photo really speaks to me. The house seems so lonely and isolated. I think this image has lots of potential but there some work to be done to bring out that potentail. The sky looks a bit dingy and I think you could probably pull out some more dynamic range. Here's what I envisioned. Hope you're not offended.

Not at all, Will. Actually, the original shot has quite a bit more color in the sky, and I toyed with several approaches to it. Perhaps being in some sort of mood at the time, I opted for the desaturated look that you see. Your change puts some of that back. Brightening the house is an option, as you've done, but on the full-sized image, that was introducing quite a bit of noise (I was exposing for that sky, at the time). Thanks for having a hand at it, and your thoughts!

I favor halfway between yours and Will's. (I'm impressed with my D300's Active-D lighting feature: it really does help see into the shadows.) That's the first thought I had here: I wanted to see the house better, without lightening the sky, which is so dramatic and gorgeous. I guess I would have gone for more color, if available, or less, to B&W. Of course you know I love prairie shots like this.

These are great situation when the clouds receive the sun and act as nature's great diffuser or lightbox. Then the light leaks from the middle, though, it can be tricky. If you did this handheld I think I agree with Tim in an image midway between yours and the one with the house brightened. Otherwise, this would be a great situation to exposure bracket and create a high(er) dynamic range composite. I also might have thought about getting lower, more wide angle, and closer to the house. But, heck, this is pretty durned pretty this way. Just some thoughts. Cheers, Jay

It's a nice image Matt. great sense of light and space. The interpretation here is a bit dark to my tastes. Seeing as how someone else here pulled a lot more detail out of the FG and house, I think I prefer that approach. As for the saturation and color in the sky, I personally prefer your rendering.

 

Nice work... thanks for sharing.

 

Bill

Thanks to the miracle of the bottom of the page listings, I just saw this one. It's very nice.

It appeals especially to me as my father and many other painters from the central Kansas school trained by Birger Sandzén tended to paint old homesteads out on the plains. Although it's not obvious in the example above, many emphasized the drama of High Plains skies.