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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Two: On Safari -- expressing the essence of nature > Gilded thunderheads, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
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08-JAN-2006

Gilded thunderheads, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006

The buildup of thunderheads during Zambia’s rains often last into the late evening and produces sunsets like this one. A surreal touch to what often can be a surreal place. Every evening, while on our game drives, we stopped for refreshments at sunset and often saw spectacular skies such as this one. This image was composed twice, once by nature and then again in the camera’s frame. With the whole sky as a potential palette, I looked for repetitive shapes and colors, and found the billowing back-lighted clouds at right echoing the painterly swirls behind them.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/400s f/7.1 at 54.7mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis26-May-2008 22:14
Thanks, Karen, for visiting my Safari gallery. I am glad you enjoyed this cloudscape. You bring an experienced eye to this image -- your own cloudscapes are very expressive.
Karen Moen26-May-2008 21:58
Beautifully captured cloudscape and that gorgeous light. It certainly lives up to those famous African skies legends.
Phil Douglis18-Feb-2006 00:10
Thanks, Anthony, for appreciating the color in this image, and the way I approached it.
Guest 12-Feb-2006 14:47
sorry for the mistake citing Photosig instead of Pbase; obviously I used the button Recent of this site :)
Guest 12-Feb-2006 05:45
Hi Phil, I visit this new gallery after discovering of Recent button in Photosig menu; so I read about your visit to Africa. Although I consider generally a lucky man one visiting the world like you I do not like very much the matter in this gallery: wildlife and so on. Don't know why and no matter about it; however I choose this shot to express my congratulation for recording this beatiful sky during quick cloud movement. I am impressed on how the beauty of sky is improved by a simple defocus on the "palette" zone. My compliments
Phil Douglis26-Jan-2006 19:02
Another reason why I traveled to Zambia during its rainy season. You can't photograph scenes such as this during its dry season, when most of tourists visit.
Ramma 26-Jan-2006 17:28
wow ! this looks like an amazing oil painting
Carol E Sandgren26-Jan-2006 00:19
I have heard of the spectacular "sundowners" every evening. You sure have captured the evening drama!
Phil Douglis25-Jan-2006 23:20
Crazy is a good word for what is going on here, Alister. Shooting skies at sunsets is always a tricky exposure challenge. On this one, I controlled my exposure by using my spot-metering option on the brightest spot in the picture -- at the center of the left hand edge. This ensured that that this spot of yellow sky stayed yellow and did not burn out, while at the same time everything else in the image darkened slightly, further enriching an already colorful palette.
alibenn25-Jan-2006 04:44
Man, nature just doing it's crazy thing....well controlled exposure..
Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 23:34
Good point, Mo. I am painting with light here -- without using a spot meter, I could not control the intensity of the colors as effectively.
monique jansen24-Jan-2006 15:12
Like a painter you play with light and shadow here
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