Piestewa Peak

A view across the valley from North Mountain.

too large, try 800x600... great detail on the bottom, but an ugly sky

You'll get this, "file too large, and a real nothing sky" so lets try and be a bit different here, you climbed all the way up there, and this is what you got, try this, get it re-printed with a LOT more light this time and see if there may be something in the sky....OK, what happens to the rest of the picture, it gets darker, right, well you can lighten that but when there is nothing, you have no place to go. Go on now, and do as I say and try it again ! Hey, do you want to hike up there and do it all over again ? *R*

Experimenting, I found that adjusting the back light adds some sky pattern not previously visible, however, don't like it.... perhaps I should have just cropped it even though it means losing the mountain detail on the right... guess I will have to climb it again... maybe at sunrise to get a nicer sky.

This is the incredible sprawl of Phoenix, also known as "Little LA" this picture has it down good and accurate. The sky is showing the atmospheric pollution that often drifts south toward Tucson. I remember once in the Early Eighties driving to the End of Central Avenue and watching the sunset until the light was reflecting off the bottom of the clouds on a hot summer day, with an eerie red color; it looked like a scene from "blade runner" To add even more; the ratings reflect a lack of understanding and a tendency to rate "arsty fartsy" photography high, while reality photography that takes far more effort and some real thought often takes it in the shorts. This picture is essentially "the new world" not the damp Europe of repetitive castle and old neighborhood photography. I have seen the same ratings with my Lordsburg photographs and took them down for a while.