I went to a local nature conservatory today (Five Rivers) to check it out for a possible meeting spot for my photo group. The place was really nice and I am excited to set up the outing. I knew the weather was supposed to get crappy later in the afternoon, but I went anyway to use up whatever time I could before the rain got here. It was nice, but a pain in the ass, because the sun kept popping in an out and I had to keep changing settings. I didn’t get too many great shots because of it, but I will next time i go.
I kept getting text messages from the the Weather Channel telling me a Severe Thunderstorm watch and eventually a warning was in effect. A little bit later, I noticed the clouds were getting very dark off in the distance, so I started walking back towards the car. At one point, I felt a raindrop, so I got ready to put the camera back in my bag and then I saw it…
There was a bridge on the main road and on the other side of the bridge was a small lake with some incredibly gloomy clouds lingering over it. I quickly swapped the 70-300 for the 18-70 and started firing away. The wind started to pick up a little, so I headed for the car. As I was getting to the car, the wind gusts began. It was crazy. I was driving back out to the main roads and with the way the wind was blowing, I honestly expected to see a tornado forming.
There was debris all over the roads. Sticks, tree branches, even a tree across the road at one point. It was pretty wild, but I had the camera just in case anything crazy happened. Don’t know what i would have done had I seen a tornado, but I would like to hope I was at a safe distance to get some pictures of it. Call me crazy…
Anyway, I wanted some opinions. I greatly over processed the picture I mentioned above using Photoshop CS5′s Merge to HDR Pro and Topaz. I know they are a lot over done, but which one do you like best?
After the storm, the sun came out and it was calm and a little cooler. I went out back to cook some burgers on the grill and the sun was setting with some amazing colors. Between flips, I grabbed the camera and snapped off a few pictures of it. Here’s what I saw…
It was a great day! See ya soon!
Mike,
These are all amazing!!!!!!!
Thanks Kristine!
I’m not a fan of HDR, (there are a few exceptions by artists I’ve found and admire,) you, however have found the happy medium of NOT over processing the photo. To this end, I find the first photo to be my favorite.
I also find the 3rd photo to be of interest. I find the sharpness and clarity draws me into the photo…individual leaves on trees can be seen.
OK I like em both pretty darn good.
The last photo of the sunset….I hate to use the same descriptive words…but, it causes me to suck in my breath and hold it…fearing to exhale, causing the sun to slip away…it’s damn pretty.
I thought I had gone a little overboard with the processing. Good to hear it’s not too much. Thanks for the kind words.
It is amazing how this background makes that first photo pop! It goes to show you how come framing is an art unto itself. The second is still excellent.
Thanks Lil!
Hi Honey! They look great!! I miss you!! XOXOXO
Give that Baby a hug for me!
Love you!
Will do. Have fun down there and be careful! Love you, too.
Hi! I just got to your site from your comment on AOA. The other Albany photo group just had a meetup at Five Rivers yesterday! It’s an awesome location – I highly recommend going early in the morning. We met there at 6 and had amazing light, fog, morning dew (and a little frost). There are tons of different kinds of birds out in the morning, too. I posted a bunch of shots to flickr (linked above).
My favorite of the shots you posted here is the first one. The vertical/portrait shot is nicely composed, but the highlights seem very gray.
Thanks for stopping by Paul! I appreciate the feedback. It was my first time at Five Rivers, and I really like the grounds. I read their web site and saw the hours of 9-5. Is it OK to go there before those hours, or do you just go anyway? Beautiful pics on your Flickr, by the way!
We were told by the park ranger that the park is open to the public sunrise to sunset… I think it may just be the visitors center that is open 9-5ish.
very nice HDR work….
Thanks Carol!