"Uplifting Sky"

As I walked to my car at 5 am on January 1, the sky was full of promise for a New Year's Day sunrise. As I headed up highway 58, however, the wind was strong and buffeting my car and the clouds appeared to be dissipating. By the time I had reached my destination, the clouds were all but gone and the wind was howling. A harbinger of things to come in 2011? I quickly retreated down the mountain and followed the more promising skies to the east. These powder puff clouds are not so common in the valley, so my composition would have to make the most of them. As I set this up, the wind shook everything and my tripod seemed to flutter from the incessant breeze. The tears in my eyes made it difficult to focus and my hands were stinging while I chose my camera settings. I was not prepared for this, but I refused to return home empty carded. After all, I spent 9 days in Miami and had not one exposure to show for it. It was a dry spell I am not familiar with. I always made something happen before, but this time I chose family over photography. Today, however, I would do my best to conjure up something from almost nothing. A lone tree, some side-lighted mountains and a sky that screamed "take my portrait". And so, that's what I did. I made a portrait of this enchanting sky. A harbinger perhaps, but I think a good one. Get out and shoot more often should be my resolution. While I do alot of shooting, more is still a good goal to have!!

PDE

I really like the composition - accenting the sky, and the tree in a perfects place. The colours are also wonderful. I would consider reducing blue saturation, specially in the upper parts of the sky, but still - it looks great.

Mark...  "Empty carded"... LOL, a very graphic statement.  The tree and the mountains would have made an excellent landscape on their own, but the sky is just dessert.  Love it... Mike

Thanks Pierre, Vivi and Mike! Sorry Vivi, I can't bring myself to reduce the blue saturation. Looks too much like the scene as it was. We had perfectly clear skies with no haze or humidity. It's hard to tell how brisk the breeze was. The weather forecast did not indicate that, so I was not prepared. Thanks for the suggestion however!

I echo Michaels sentiments, in as much as the lone tree and the sidelit mountains are a visual treat in themselves, but that sky is the icing on the cake. Very beautiful. 1 question, I noted you have used a polarisor filter and wonder do you ever get a patchy colour when photographing clear blue sky's with it?  It's something I've noticed on a few of my shots. Maybe this image has sufficient cloud to eliminate that kind of side effect, or maybe you know a way round it?

Best Regards

Alf

Superb image Mark! I think you conjured up an excellent image here. Beautiful light on the mountains, a spectacular sky, and a wonderful scene overall. Well done guy!

All the best,
Neil

Thanks Alf and Neil! It's funny, this was a snoozer and then suddenly two comments out of nowhere in the same day; nice surprise! Yes, Alf, I use the polarizer depending on the light and angle. It really helps deepen the blues in a sky. Problem is, it can also introduce some unusual vignettes across the middle part of a clear blue sky. It has to do with the angle of the filter from the light source. I would suggest rotating it off of it's maximum strength when this occurs or simply remove it. I probably shoot more often without it because it robs me of almost two stops during low light situations. The only time I put it on is when I am shooting at approximately 90 degrees from the light source. The best reason for using it is to remove reflections from surfaces like leaves and rocks and in this case to get more separation in the sky. As well, it can remove bright reflective light from a lake surface in order to record submerged rocks below the surface. After that, it's just one more piece of glass that the light has to travel through before it reaches the sensor!