# Storm on the coast



## PaulB (Jun 23, 2004)

The family and I spent a week on the beach last week just doing nothing and loving it. This little storm came in and I ran to get my camera. The wife looked at me like I was nuts, I'm used to it.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

A week on the beach doing nothing sounds like paradise. My wife and I will be doing something similar pretty soon. What beach were you on? I really like the photo. Even though the storm is brewing it makes me realize I would rather be there than where I am currently. Very cool shot.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

Really nice shot that give a sense of what mother nature is capable of. I like the way that the walkway and cloud front both lead one's eye to the same point. Paul, would you mind if I tried a photoshop edit on this and posted the results?


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## sandybottom (Jun 1, 2005)

Love this.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Well done.


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## Old Whaler (Sep 6, 2005)

Very Cool pic!


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## Dr. Krol (May 21, 2004)

Paul,
That is a great shot. I bet that rocked the beach house when it arrived.

Thanks for sharing a really neat photo. Hope you guys had a good time.

All the best.

Dr. Krol


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## PaulB (Jun 23, 2004)

We were on Crystal Beach and believe it or not, that little cloud broke up before it really did anything. About ten minutes after I took the picture it stalled , backed up, broke up, and the sun came out. We were back on the sand within 30 minutes.

Pocketfisherman have at it. I wanted to make a few tweaks to it myself so I'd like to see your version.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

This was an attempt to expand the tonal range of the clouds and bring out some more contrast between the darkest and lightest clouds. It also brought out more noise from the darker shadows too which is a tradeoff.


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## Ibeafireman (Jul 24, 2006)

nice shot. I know the look your wife gives you, mine gives it to me too when I start heading for the camera.


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

I bet if you could see just offshore about 5 miles you would see a steady stream of boats headed for the jetties!


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Since it was asked for, to someone else, I coudn't resist giving it a try myself. If unwelcome, sorry. Actually, I do it a lot and then delete, but like to learn adjustments anyway. Here is my attempt and know others are much better than mine, but still want to learn to see what others can see and as I play with adjustments, I have learned to look harder at what I never could see before. Not trying to outdo others, but can't resist playing as much as I can to improve myself. My adjustments were mostly using a levels adjustment and a little with Curves. Slight saturation.


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Great original shot. I wouldn't touch it. 

Ominous; foreboding; fearful.... are the words that come to mind instantly upon opening the thread. regards, Rich


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## huntvizsla (Dec 31, 2006)

Cool pic. Thought Id play with the adjustments as well. I'm reposting the original so we can keep track of what works and what doesnt. One problem with doing standard photoshop adjustments to this image is that some areas of the landscape are under entirely different lighting and atmospheric conditions than others. To best manipulate this image select the sky, and dunes seperately and then adjust them independently. I used levels, and variations. Then I reinforced the darkening of the ground near the horizon by using a new layer with a black and white gradient, layer mode set to multiply. This adds to the naturaly occuring dramatic lighting and blends the two halves of the image back together. Finaly I used the air brush on a new layer to paint a soft area of transparent white over the bridge, then set the layer mode to overlay. This casts a little more light to the bridge without making the dunes so light that they dont match the sky.
Edit: As I look at it I think the sky got too saturated in the process, levels seem right but a 10% decrease in saturation would put the natural color back in place.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

huntvizsla said:


> Cool pic. Thought Id play with the adjustments as well. I'm reposting the original so we can keep track of what works and what doesnt. One problem with doing standard photoshop adjustments to this image is that some areas of the landscape are under entirely different lighting and atmospheric conditions than others. To best manipulate this image select the sky, and dunes seperately and then adjust them independently. I used levels, and variations. Then I reinforced the darkening of the ground near the horizon by using a new layer with a black and white gradient, layer mode set to multiply. This adds to the naturaly occuring dramatic lighting and blends the two halves of the image back together. Finaly I used the air brush on a new layer to paint a soft area of transparent white over the bridge, then set the layer mode to overlay. This casts a little more light to the bridge without making the dunes so light that they dont match the sky.
> Edit: As I look at it I think the sky got too saturated in the process, levels seem right but a 10% decrease in saturation would put the natural color back in place.


Rather than go through the pain in the rear selection process, use adjustment layers and masks. Undo the curves adjustment layer painting on the mask with a soft edge brush. Do one for the storm cloud, another for the foreground. It takes all of 45 seconds versus doing selections.


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## huntvizsla (Dec 31, 2006)

Thats the great thing about photoshop, there are many ways of doing the same thing. With such a distinct hard horizon line using the selection tool makes sense, in this case a the rectangle selection tool almost does the trick. If the horizon was obscured with tree's, smoke, atmospheric haze, or other complexities a mask painted with a soft brush is the way to go.


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## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

cool pic and alteration


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## Chris (Aug 2, 2004)

Good shot Paul. Glad to see yall were spared by that thing. You normally don't have that kind of luck.


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