White Cloud

I was struck by this bright cloud hanging high in a dark stormy sky. This is another from my April desert trip.

Beautiful image Harley. My small nit would be to increase the mid tone contrast in the middle third of the photo (mountains and low clouds).

Very peaceful feel to the image, Harley. Even with the drama of the darkening sky and what looks like some virga too. The additional dappling of J-trees? scattered out there helps to keep the lower bare desert interesting also… :sunglasses:

I was kinda expecting this to be a B&W and surprised that I like it in colors, too. Another point of interest (in addition to the scattering of the Joshua Trees) is the color shift from the left to the right. That adds some sort of depth to the image that’s lost in B&W, I think.

The white cloud adds nicely to the overall drama of the image. I agree with Tony about the contrast. It would be nice to see the mountains stand out a bit more from the sky above.

I think you’ve processed this image with an effective tonal separation which compliments the composition very well. That is the foreground and the dark clouds look to be similar in luminance, then you have the mid ground mountain which are higher in luminance and then the white cloud which is higher again. For me that helps guide my eye though the frame.

Another beautiful sweeping high desert image with some great clouds. That brighter cloud is nicely centered in the frame providing good balance. Processing looks good although I would experiment with cooling the color balance down in the sky/clouds to contrast with the warm light on the land.

Mr. H.,

Sure appears that you captured a lifetime worth of images in one (or was it two?) trips. I agree I like the color here contrasting the land with the drama in the sky. Also agree with a little mid-tone contrast in the mountains, but heck, that’s pretty minor.

Lon