Need advice for stormy photos!

[CalamityJanet]

I'm having a great time with my new 10-22 wide angle! I'm getting some shots that I think have potential, but I'm stuck on what to do with them. I'd like some tips on what kind of post processing I should be using, like what kind and how much sharpening, etc. Also, because I'm trying to get the sky/clouds my foregrounds are dark. Should I be using a different setting for the metering? And what's the best way to lighten the foregrounds in Elements? I've put a few examples in my Smugmug gallery. The first three were taken Fri. afternoon when a really fast-moving storm came through while we were riding through the Yorktown Battlefields. It got really dark, but fortunately I had the monopod and a few are pretty sharp. I coudn't take a lot of time to fiddle around because of the lightening.:eek: We had a tornado nearby earlier in the day, so I was watching those clouds closely. The fourth one was taken on a sunny, non-threatening day.

If anyone would like to take a look and either show or tell me what to do, I'd really appreciate it! And I welcome any advice on what I could do better with the camera, too!

http://JScoggins.smugmug.com/gallery/2775907/1/147810114

[GaryK]

Hi Janet

Those are great shots.

It looks as though the shadow/highlights menu selection might work somewhat on them.
The other thing you can do is a levels adjustment layer to brighten up the foreground, then mask the (now) overexposed clouds back the their former glory.

I think some people tend to do two shots for this type of situation.. one exposed for the clouds/sun area (losing the foreground) then one exposed for the foreground/dark area (blowing out the clouds) then combine the two.

I have never tried this, I like the sillouette look :) , but a tripod and at least two shots would be needed.

All just my unprofessional opinion.:D

[kimh]

Just read something about that. Have a few books here at work with me so if I have time will see if I can find it.
Kimh

[CalamityJanet]

Thanks for the suggestions, Gary! I tried the levels adjustment/masking method and it works pretty well on some shots. It didn't work very well for the shots with trees in front of the clouds, though. I'd like to try the two-shot method sometime when I have the tripod and Mother Nature is in a better mood!:D

Kim, I hope you're having a quiet day at work. And I hope you're working on some photos to share from Friday!;)

[Daviskw]

Hi Janet

What great pictures. It seems to me that what is interesting in the pictures is not in the shadows anyway.

I love color and contrast so my version is way overboard but maybe just warming and some cropping could add that something special.

Zooming in on your pictures almost feels like the clouds are over my head.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1cuttJOGiZgE45B7VQ8VW8KFYYXt0F_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1cuttJOGiZgE45B7VQ8VW8KFYYXt0F)

[AngelicKim]

Janet, great shots. I don't have any suggestions but wanted to comment on them as they are. And Butch, love your version as well.

[CalamityJanet]

WOW BUTCH!!!!!

Thank you so much for showing me your take on it! To me, it's not overboard at all...it's just gorgeous! You've really sparked my imagination. I've got plenty more of them to work on, some of just the clouds that I thought I could combine with other images later.

It was an incredible sight in person...but it really did look like a tornado could drop down at any time, so I was rushing to get what I could. You just don't see a sky like that one very often!

One question...what kind of sharpening did you apply?

[Daviskw]

Your skies would be wonderful in an Omnimax format.

For dark pictures you have little noise in the shadows. Good equipment I think. I wanted to bring out the edges and contrast in the clouds so I sharpened heavily with unsharp mask, then used noiseware in landscape mode to reduce random noise. I adjusted the luminosity and color sliders in the noiseware dialogs.

Butch

[CalamityJanet]

Janet, great shots. I don't have any suggestions but wanted to comment on them as they are. And Butch, love your version as well.

Thanks, Kim! They were fun shots to get as I love stormy weather. And Butch knew just what that shot needed. I think he should write a book, or start an on-line classroom. He could make a fortune! I'd be first in line to sign up.

[CalamityJanet]

Your skies would be wonderful in an Omnimax format.

For dark pictures you have little noise in the shadows. Good equipment I think. I wanted to bring out the edges and contrast in the clouds so I sharpened heavily with unsharp mask, then used noiseware in landscape mode to reduce random noise. I adjusted the luminosity and color sliders in the noiseware dialogs.

Butch

Butch, I used my Rebel XTi with the Canon EF-S 10-22mm...nice to know you think it's good equipment!;) :D

What is noiseware? Is that a specific software or a general term for software that reduces noise? I've been meaning to find something to use for noise reduction but haven't really researched it yet. I have some photos that were taken with APS film and they have a strange looking kind of noise. Is it possible that improper use of chemicals in a darkroom can cause noise? I'd really like to fix some of those APS photos.

[kimi_boo]

Your skies would be wonderful in an Omnimax format.

For dark pictures you have little noise in the shadows. Good equipment I think. I wanted to bring out the edges and contrast in the clouds so I sharpened heavily with unsharp mask, then used noiseware in landscape mode to reduce random noise. I adjusted the luminosity and color sliders in the noiseware dialogs.

Butch

Butch, WOW!!
I understand the above instructions. Do you mind telling what you used to get the color change?

[Russinator]

Janet, IMHO they are excellent just as they are.

Russ

[CalamityJanet]

Thank you, Russ!:)

[Daviskw]

Hi Janet

I purchased the noiseware plug-in a few months ago... To me it is the best on the market. You can use the automatics and they do a great job...or play with the very easy to understand manual settings.

What I like is you can adjust noise by....frequency.. how big or small the noise is.

You can adjust my luminance... shadows or highlights.

You can adjust individual colors like noise in red green blue..etc

You can sharpen and or protect detail and color as you reduce noise.

You can bracket settings to compare... save setting... it is just easy to understand good stuff.

It does a much better job than native Elements noise and to me a superior job to Neat Image or Noise Ninja.

You can look over....THIS (http://www.imagenomic.com/products.aspx) site for information and cost. I just use the single plug-in version I think around $70... but it is worth it.

Kim... I used a curves adjustment in Cs2 but I could have used levels...hue/saturation or selective color. But to make it more dramatic I used the color burn and color dodge layers filled with neutral color... otherwise paint with light procedure. This helped make colors vivid and more contrast in the clouds.

Butch

[CalamityJanet]

Thanks Butch, for the description and the link to Noiseware. I've looked it over and just need to decide which version to get. I think it will prove to be a worthwhile investment.

[ronstelzy]

Janet,
Here's my cropped version. Horizon was too near center before; you got a great sky; use it.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1skp4yNyIFhWqcdSVF72pVLfY3V8Pp1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1skp4yNyIFhWqcdSVF72pVLfY3V8Pp1)

[CalamityJanet]

Thanks, Ron! That looks really good!

[Cmcburnett]

Janet, great pictures.

[CalamityJanet]

Thank you, Charlotte! And congrats on your IOTW and Editor's Choice! They're both great images. The lightning is incredible! As stormy as my skies looked, they didn't provide me with a shot like that.

[ME100FINN]

Janet, I really loved the darkness of the images!! Stunning, I was drawn in. Only two things - sharpen (if you need to as you said) and crop as Ron stated (but I loved the foreground black as it kept my eye in the sky/clouds). Just incredible. Wish I was there!

[CalamityJanet]

Thank you, Beatrice!

[Chuck S.]

Janet, terrific stuff! My favorite is #4, which has a great sense of movement and power to it. I'm not sure the two-exposure method would work with clouds in motion, unless the camera could be programmed to take two photos back-to-back with different settings almost instantaneously. The rapid movement of the clouds would possibly/likely blur the edges of the clouds. I haven't tried auto-bracketing; perhaps it is fast enough...

I'm going to put the 10-22 mm lens on my wishlist for the future. I had thought that the lens was only compatible with the Rebel series, but I did a little research and found that it also works on my 30D, so ....yay!!

[CalamityJanet]

Thank you, Chuck!

The 10-22 is a lot of fun, but I haven't figured out some of it's quirks. The corners come out very dark in some shots. Sometimes it's the upper left corner, other times it's the upper right...must have something to do with the angle to the sun? At first I thought it was because I wasn't using a hood, so I ordered it, but it really hasn't made a difference. Let me know if you'd like to see some other examples.

I was lucky to have it (and my new monopod) with me when that storm blew through here that day!

[Chuck S.]

Janet, on the B&H Photo website, the reviews of the lens (all positive) did indicate some tendency to vignette at the widest setting (10 mm). If that were uniform, fixing it with the Camera Distortion filter in Elements would seem to be the way to go. However, if it's uneven, that would be a little more challenging.

I do hope you keep using the lens and posting your results. Many digital camera users have cited the lack of a true wide angle lens as a limitation, and you've found a solution and are using it very well indeed!