Tags
Black & White Photography, CLOUDSCAPES, Heritage Basket Studio.Elkton Virginia, Lightroom, POST PROCESSING, Shenandoah Valley, Skyscapes, Stormy Skies
BLACK AND WHITE CLOUDSCAPES
Last month in May we had some stormy skies, and I grabbed my camera and took these pictures, what I saw and what came out were two entirely different things. Fortunately in Lightroom I was able to bring back what I actually saw. I am sure they could have been processed better, I am just getting into converting images to black and white and there is a lot to learn or seems so, it just takes trial and error. I have noticed some of the photography when published the blog, does not show up the same in the post as good as they do on Facebook, then sometime it is the oposite. I never know until I hit publish. The pictues often show more detail when you click on them and enlarge them. Some pictures you think are junk in color often times look much better in black & white. It is nice to have the choice.
It is amazing the cloud formations that happen up against the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, the mountain for which I am sitting at the foot of, really do not look that high, yet clouds seem to get damed up against them at times and really creates some interesting and often time menacing looking clouds.
Often times they look so mean, but dicipate as they get to the mountains, other times they look billowy and serene……..Watch Out! So many times depending on the time of the year, they can look downright ugly and you think you are going to have a storm of storms, and nothing happens. While other times like stated above, serene and billowing puff balls balloon and the next thing, dynamite like thunder.
I am in no means a meteorologist, however living in the valley all of my life I have learned about Orographic Lifting, when winds go up the side of a mountain and spin the atmosphere and during certain storms especially in summer, will ring out an abundance of rain in one area, often causing flash flooding, what we call a “stuck thunderstorm” sounds very high tech doesn’t it (NOT) !
During the high heat of summer, with the high heat and stagnant humidity, one can see where winds from an oncoming storm moves across the valley from the West Virginia mountains to the west, move east across the wide valley and then suddenly hits a brick wall (the Blue Ridge mountains) on the eastern side, these winds lift the hot stagnant humid air up the side of the mountain and starts to roll in the atmosphere and quickly often time dramatically you can see giant thunder heads build while you are watching them. What do you do? Run in and unplug all of your electronics (just in case) Keeer POW, type thunder ensues, the type that makes your teeth rattle. The scarry type! Often followed by lighting you can read by in a dark room!