Flow Visualization
Katie Yarnell
Report 2: First Cloud Picture
The second photo topic for this class was to have students take pictures of clouds. This assignment gave the student a month or so to spend occasionally looking up that the sky to find a cloud formation, sunrise, or sunset that they felt was picture worthy. The picture in this report was taken on October 2, 2016 of the sun setting after a stormy day. This report will look into the weather stability of that day as well as the artistic and scientific reasoning behind this photograph.
This photo was taken in Louisville, Colorado at 5:40 pm on October 2, 2016. There was no complex setup for this photo, it was just taken in the moment. The photo was taken out near an open-space with a good view of the mountains. The camera was angled slightly upward ~10 degrees from being horizontal, to show more of the cloud formations while still keeping the mountains in the frame of the photograph.
These are Stratocumulus clouds. This can be seen by looking at the Skew-T diagram of the day, shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Skew-T Diagram for October 2, 2016
By looking at the CAPE value, it can be seen that the weather was unstable. Knowing this in combination with the shape of the cloud formations, it can be said that these clouds are in fact Stratocumulus clouds. Because they are Stratocumulus clouds it is assumed that they were located in the Stratosphere, roughly 30-50 km above ground. The day this photo was it taken was stormy and it had rained hours before and there was some wind present when the photo was taken.
The camera used was a Nikon 7100 with a 18-140mm lens. The aperture was f/5.6 and the ISO was at 200. The shutter speed was 1/125. Editing was simple, the photo got slightly darkened in order to make the mountains less distracting. The original picture is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Original Photo before Editing
As can be seen, not much about the picture was changed other than the slight brightness modifications.
The photo was chosen because of the colors and how the clouds glow behind the mountains, creating a cool visual effect. The photographer is happy with this photo, but one change that was pointed out was to try and remove the power lines that are present in the photo with some precise editing. This was helpful advice and the photographer plans to go back and try to remove that.
27 Comments. Leave new
Good contrast. I like the silhouette of the mountains against the lighter sky with the clouds reflecting the sunset. No info was lost and it looks very realistic.
I really like the slight color variance in the image. It seems very mysterious
I really like how the clouds look like they are on fire from the bottom. The photo is very crisp. Great work!
This is an incredible image! I really like the range of blue to yellow in the sky. My favorite part of this image, however, is the contrast of the blacked-out flatirons in the front to the red edges of the clouds and purple mountains behind. The sun set is catching the bottom edge of the clouds, you probably had a matter of moments to capture this image. Great job!
– Great photo I really like the colors in this!
– It’s interesting to see a warm glow behind the mountains as well as under the clouds.
– The focus is clear and not too much negative space in this photo well done.
I like the gray clouds with the red under lighting. The red glow around the mountains helps highlight them. You may find that with a careful hand and clone stamp that you can remove the power lines in the lower left of the image.
I love how the red crisp is found on the belly of the clouds and outlining the mountains behind. Naturally beautiful.
Very interesting colors. It gives a unique feel to the image.
1. The pink hues is very dramatic and highlights the wonderful texture of the clouds.
2. The flow is clearly visible.
3. The photographic technique is excellent with wonderful focus and exposure highlighting the textures and the faint glow of the sun setting.
The color on the bottom of the cloud formations is very clear and offers an appealing contrast in the image. The difference between the clouds in the foreground and the background is very distinct and has a duality effect. The clouds on the horizon have an ominous, evil feeling.
Surprising color of the clouds: red and black! Mysterious and distinct!
Really like the black foreground however am a little distracted on how/why the deep mountains are not blacked out. Its very interesting to see the red tint both next to the mountains and on the bottom part of each individual cloud.
Wow I love the colors in this. The sky has very nice pale yellows and blues and the clouds are so dark with red highlights, its gorgeous. The mountain at the bottom being highlighted by red is gorgeous as well. Great pic!
The red on the bottom of the clouds really showcases the individual clouds. It does a great job of capturing the feel of a real sunset in a photo.
very cool how the only the bottoms of the could have the red on them and the rest of the cloud disappears into darkness. nice with the mountains in the bottom of the image.
The light red hues on the bottom of the clouds is striking, and it contrasts well with the darkness of the clouds. The silhouette of the mountains works really well with the small outlining from the red on the clouds over the mountains.
Art: I really like the dark tones of the clouds and the slight color reflecting off of the bottom of the clouds.
Flow: The flow is quickly understandable and easily recognized.
Photographic technique: The focus of the Clouds is great, and the range of tones in this picture is great with the capturing of some of the smaller details in the clouds.
The lack of blue in the image works out very well. Don’t see red on the underside of clouds very often!
I find it really interesting that the colors in the upper section of clouds match the colors in the bottom section of clouds. The yellow,almost green, middle section of the image is pretty interesting as well. Nice and crisp, you captured a lot of details in the clouds.
Really like the hint of orange being cast on to the bottom of the clouds. Contrast range is great, I really like the silhouette of the mountains.
I love the red color! Great image ! Great focus and range
Art: Really like the burnt orange/ auburn colors in the clouds
Flow: Clouds have good contrast from the sky making them clearly visible
Photographic technique: Great contrast range
The colors flow well throughout the image. I like the orange/red on the bottom sides of the clouds. Great texture and detail.
The pink is beautiful and adds a really nice, soft feel to the image. The detail was captured really well. I like the mountains in the bottom of the image. I’m a big fan of natural scenes.
I like the dark shade of red in the clouds. A range of contrast which creates an aesthetically pleasing image.
Beautiful beautiful sunset! I remember seeing this! The darker pink and purple clouds at the bottom combined with the two sets of mountains is absolutely beautiful. The pink highlights on the closer clouds contrasting the more purple farther clouds is really nice.
I appreciate the silhouette effect on the flatirons. I am confused why the mountains behind the other silhouetted mountains were in light. I like the reds that are shown and the natural look of them. I appreciate naturally beautiful photos.