Fireworks

Nicely done, details of clouds are awesome. I like the calm sea, and the unusual horizon where thunderstorms are the special quote. It's a moment that someone should enjoy and dream. NIce POW!!!

It seems like a long exposure. Almost all lightning shots are. Whats most amazing is the cloud stayed still!!

E' incredibile una foto eccezionale .. complimenti Paolo

very nice ,a very amazing photo.

Love all the elements in this image but I do prefer the mono version, with Greg's crop. Paolo, I for one don't care that its a composite, its the image as far as I am concerned that counts, (thats what photography is all about). The bit I am not happy with is the horizon and I am sure you will deal with this later. You made a great effort and had the courage to show it to us. The plus bit is the interest created here and as always it's its great to get other people's comments. Nice one mate.

Paolo, scrivo in italiano per esprimermi meglio, ho letto i vari commenti e personalmente penso che la fotografia possa essere anche trasformata o modificata in post produzione, hai fatto un lavoro egregio tra l'altro, apportare modifiche o montare insieme più scatti fa sì che riusciamo a visualizzare quello che vorremmo vedere e che forse un singolo scatto non offre, è un modo di concretizzare un sogno, un'idea. La tua foto è stupenda. Complimenti.Rita

Lake Superior thunder storm. On Velvia 50 At 2001 August.

You sandwiched image, the lightning, pasted the half top portion only with is very visible. If you had spend enough time out in nature and watching nature, more carefully, you not doing this mistake anymore. The supposed to be moving clouds all ready mentioned in the previous comments. The composition to busy, to mach highlighted parts, no harmony in the image. It is so called a cacophony of subject. The idea is good but the execution is pour. You have to observe nature very carefully, when you wanted co copy it. The final image should look like, so natural, even an astronomer/whether expert, etc cant find anything witch is not so in the real situation. A good sandwiched image required a lot of careful study of nature, atmospheric condition in several situation. And ! Of-course a good PS technic. Try harder next time, and more critical of your work.

Best regards; Bela

Revised image of your work.

Bela, thank you for your contribution. I believe though that if you had read all the comments above, before writing yours, you would have found all the answers to your doubts. One question: I'd like to know how does this look busy to you. This really surprise me.
Rgds,
Paolo

Almost ALL great multi-lightning pictures are COMPOSITES of course - or long exposures capturing several lightnings at once... So I don't see any issue at all about this being a composite : that's how you get great lightning lines. I agrre with P. Daadler's analysis of the 3 areas, and certainly his crop works, but I still like the bottom part of this image for its beautiful toning from dark to bright sea. Thanks to Paolo for taking part in this very interesting discussion - and for posting a link to my favorite picture of his as well ! :-) This POW is excellent too, with stunning colors and contrast, great lines and fine composition. Nice ! Keep up the good work ! Cheers.

Magnifica captura i posterior tractament!

I think that the good photographer could be have the capacity to observe the scene and evaluate precisely the point that remarks Peter Daadler…. and reject the things lees important, other topics are referred to private tastes as: Contrast, colour saturation, image definition etc… Other point is to follow some aesthetic rules as location the most important elements into the frame for example: the thirds rules; but the Photography as an art, allows us to determine a lot of things not under an strict way if not, applying our creativity…

In my opinion, to do crop suppose to re-evaluate the scene changing in some way the image value, although on the other hand, we can understand that the end result is the most important not the previous steps that we can need to do, as number of shots, if we applied a HDR technical, or others…

Somehow, the perception sense is one of the things that not teach in schools and is a gift that brings the nature to the photographer.

In this occasion, I like the original edition and of course the crop interpretation, but maybe the B&W edition is for my taste the best, the most visual attractive.

Regards

One of the best seascapes i've seen so far.The long exposure is very accurate, it softened the sea and the clouds acquired an embossed sense with intense contrast.The colors are the closest to reality, for such weather conditions.Excellent work Paolo.Regards

To me a humble and rare visitor to this site, this is a wonderful acheivement of producing a fascinating image, with a surreal feel to it. Congratulations with the timing and work put into it.
There is contrast/drama in the colour composition and different textures of the sky and the sea that makes this picture interesting to look at.
At first look I interpret the sea to be frozen, it looks like ice that reflects the sky in a realistic diffused way, enhancing the clash of tranquillity below and violent outburts of energy above. Out of pure curiosity, was the sky that orange or did you enhance it?
But then, the island is not covered with ice or snow, taking away the illusion of winter. At first I don´t really care much for the island perhaps for that reason. Thinking that a pure water/ice surface would have served better to show contrasting elements.
Then I notice that there seem to be a small house on the island...Before observing this detail I didn´t pick up any sense of vulnerability. The island itself looks old and enduring, like it has survived many blasts of the elements and will always be there. The bare rock, the dark, welldefined outline just emphasises this. The house makes me understand the size of the island and better feel the vastness of the sea. It adds humanity and vulnerability to the scene.
What if it was more highlighted?

It looks fake to me!

Simply stunning. Everything is perfect.

No words, simply congrats...!

Your photo is great. Special colors are what makes the beauty of your labor grow in intensity, clouds and lightning too. Sincerely Dan.

Wow simply amazing