shot in the dark Threatening Sky II, 2005

Reworked version of a file previously uploaded. . . .

--Lannie

Good dramatic atmosphere, moody, but there isn't what to lean eye on except that brighter unrecognizable object on the left bottom part which can't be the point to lay an eye on it! But I like the mood!

Landrum, this one was heavily attacked by the Googies!

Help, help, help!

Cheers to the Googies!

PDE

Thanks, Pierre, but the point of this crop was to emphasize the clouds, that weird, threatening sky. I don't want much competing with that in this one--maybe in another one into which I might import part of that sky with Photoshop.

 

Here, for a few moments, the sky is the star.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

--Lannie

Lannie--I really like this in B&W...well captured! It's a shame there weren't a few more hay bales for scenery! I do think having that one bale really makes this picture. Although the sky is the focus, I think that hay bale is instrumental to making this a pleasing photograph. Hope you're doing well!

You're right, Tyler, with regard to what makes for a "pleasing" photo, but I wanted a threatening sky to be what people remember. If I could have gotten this with an even less intrusive foreground, I would have done so. The effect I was striving for comes through better when viewed on "Larger," or, better yet, on the original file, which makes one feel part of the very air itself.

 

In any case, with all the photoshopping, the scene was pretty much as shot: a boiling sky over a pasture. The essential balance of the composition was not affected by the photoshopping. In truth, however the sky, although interesting, was shot at mid-afternoon and was not all that interesting before the post-processing, which involved going to the negative before solarizing, then going to the negative again, if I remember correctly. You get some curious effects with that sequence of manipulation, in case you have never tried it.

 

Here is a very different kind of photo subjected to the same sequence of manipulations, as I recall. The precise effect one gets depends on what else one does before hitting it with the negative effect for a SECOND time:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5721451

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

--Lannie

Very interesting, Lannie. I know you are really trying to emphasize the sky here but I think it emphasizes itself! For me, even if the foreground was littered with beautiful hay bales I'd still be drawn to the sky first, especially if viewing large! For me at least, having more interest would make me look at the picture longer--I would spend the same time focused on the sky and then after I was done surveying that I'd move on to the foreground. Regardless, I don't think there is anything that can overcome or even degrade the attention and drama that sky creates. Well done, my friend! Keep up the great work--I'll be back often!

Wow very dramatic indeed. Great work Lannie!

Mr. Lannie... is this a toned work or what did you do to get the tones??? which I really like...

Lannie, I do think that one hay bale is a good element in this shot. While your eyes are drawn immediately to the sky, they want something else to briefly rest on and the hay bale works well. It's small and unobtrusive, and your eyes go right back to the sky. Nice work!

Hi Landrum; Everything I could possibly say has alredy been said. Let me therefore just add: "Another wonderful "Landrum""....Bert

Thanks, everyone.

 

Dennis, although one version of this is toned with a hue of 19, this one is simply one hundred percent desaturated.

 

Tyler and Kim, you are probably right, although I wonder what would have happened if I had made this one the high plains with no particular surface features. I think that the sky going down to the horizon might carry itself as an image. I might be wrong.

 

--Lannie

Dark and moody.... and I love it!