Fluffy cloud alert

[thoughton]

Had some amazing skies around here recently, so I took a couple hours for lunch and went out for a drive. C&C welcome!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5920504030_20e1178a5e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5920504030/)
Thaxted windmill (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5920504030/) by thoughton (http://www.flickr.com/people/thoughton/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5116/5913214009_21db6a46a4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5913214009/)
Fields of wheat (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5913214009/) by thoughton (http://www.flickr.com/people/thoughton/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6029/5910481890_bd7a37c6f0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5910481890/)
Lavender skies (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5910481890/) by thoughton (http://www.flickr.com/people/thoughton/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5315/5909911283_c20a081830_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5909911283/)
Lavender field (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughton/5909911283/) by thoughton (http://www.flickr.com/people/thoughton/), on Flickr

And one of just the clouds, wish I had some interesting foreground on this but I was driving to the (very ugly) town dump at the time:
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy358/thoughton/K5006404.jpg

[Hillbillygirl]

Amazing skies and amazing photos of them. Really lovin' that windmill and wheat field shot especially, the details captured are beautiful.

[Iguanasan]

These are wonderful, thoughton. I love the sea of lavender in shot #3 though the windmill is really cool too.

[Kawarthabob]

Great captures!

[Wicked Dark]

I think you did very well emphasizing the clouds even when there was a good deal of land in the shot. Sometimes it's hard not to make them 'just the sky'.

[Lizardqing]

Wow, the windmill is my favorite. I don't have the wide open skies like that but looking at those shots makes me wish I did sometimes!

[Marko]

awesome clouds here! In terms of CC, I really like shot 1 but it looks quite distorted perspective wise.
I can't make up my mind if the slope in shot 4 is a distraction or adds tension. hmmm
Shots 3, and 5 for me please! It's rare that I REALLY like shots of just clouds, but shot 5 is seriously working for me.
Hope that helps - Marko

[Mad Aussie]

Wow. Amazing is the right word. Hard to pick a fav but that 3rd shot (lavender skies) gets the nod from me.

[Matt K.]

Wow. Amazing is the right word. Hard to pick a fav but that 3rd shot (lavender skies) gets the nod from me.

I second that whole heartedly

[asnow]

Love the first one. The windmill against that amazing sky and the green grass.

[thoughton]

Wow, thank you all for the great response! I do like a cloud myself, but it's rare to get such nice weather over here in grey old England.

The windmill is actually quite short and fat and tapered (rather like me :laughing:). The shot above has had some cosmetic surgery in PS after using the an ultra wide angle pointing slightly upwards. Here is the original, quite bad distortion at the top:
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy358/thoughton/K5006379.jpg

It was a shame the sails weren't up either. I'll have to try and find out, but I get the feeling they only put them up a few times a year for some kind of celebration.

I've also been tinkering with a BW conversion of that one. It seems a slight shame given the nice colours, but I think this one has something about it:
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy358/thoughton/K5006379-1.jpg
(Sorry, somehow I forgot to upload the BW perspective-corrected one to photobucket, and now I'm at the office, so you'll have to imagine this is it :))

[kat]

Very cool set! Clouds definitely great for the photos!

[Marko]

I really dig the bw mood - Love to see the PC version if you get a chance.

[thoughton]

This is the BW corrected version:
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy358/thoughton/K5006379-4.jpg