... and technical details

The forecast predicted sun and no clouds, but this late afternoon hike up to Skrimtoppen in Buskerud, Norway, we were awarded with some dramatic clouds and light. Perfect combination with the rough and cold texture of the rocks.

EXIF and techniques used is given under the picture.

Dramatic clouds at Skrimtoppen before sunset

Process behind the image

With the dramatic light we were awarded with at Skrimtoppen with the sunset slowly taking place, I had to capture multiple exposures to get the depth of field I wanted.

Exposure 1: f/10 - 1/50 sec - ISO100
Exposure 2: f/10 - 1/25 sec - ISO100
Exposure 3: f/10 - 1/13 sec - ISO100
Exposure 4: f/10 - 1/6 sec - ISO100

I knew that I would only need 3 exposures to get the dynamic range I needed, two for the sky and one for the foreground, but I also needed a brighter exposure that better separated the bright cloud from the dark foreground to create the luminosity mask needed in photoshop.

After blending the images together I used the following adjustments:

- Curves
- Orton Effect
- Color Balance
- Color Efex Pro 4 (plug in)
- Unsharp mask
- Coloured grad filter to bring out the little extra colour in the sky