Palm

[rcallicotte]

Comments are welcome.

[Saurav]

I really like this render as it's quite realistic. The clouds look like the Mammatus types usually associated with beginning of an intense storm. The composition and atmosphere settings are also spot on in terms of realism. I would re-render this at higher settings as there seems to be a lot of noise in the clouds/atmo. If you can get those patterns in the clouds to be a little larger and dip a little more to the ground (displace) that would add more to the realism. Check some Mammatus clouds pictures in google. I would also light up the tree a bit so you can see some details on it. Other than that this is looking really good. Congrats for a fine image.

[nvseal]

This looks very very good. Nice work on those clouds.

[old_blaggard]

I agree with both of those.  The idea and composition of the image is excellent, and the clouds themselves could benefit from a bit more quality, but I wouldn't tweak their settings at all.  Your best so far, I think.

[rcallicotte]

@Saurav - Thanks.  I've been tweaking, while logging my original values on a piece of paper.     This is fun.

@nvseal - Great.  Thanks for the compliment.

@o_b - Wow.  Cool compliments.  I'm trying other things, but I'm not losing my original values. 

I need to give credit to Paint.net for it's Level Adjustment that brought out the best in my saved TIF file from TG2.  I think I might like Paint.Net's Level adjustment better than Photoshop's (don't own CS3, though).

[RArcher]

I love the clouds and the overall sense of moodiness. For me, the palm tree is upsetting the balance of your image a bit.

[Oshyan]

Wow, didn't think I'd see a passable mammatus immitation for a while yet, but you've just about managed it! Nice work.

- Oshyan

[Seth]

very very nice clouds !
i love it !

[sjefen]

I agree with everyone. The clouds are very cool.
I would love to se this with better quality.

[Volker Harun]

Agree - but do not change the lighting.

[FrankB]

Well done, Calico!

[Ogre]

Love the image, especially the clouds.

[rcallicotte]

Here's an update with higher quality.  Interested in your comments.

[old_blaggard]

Great!  This brings out the shapes of the clouds even more.

[bigben]

Great image.  The photographer in me is itching to see just a touch of shadow detail in the foreground and maybe some more light coming through the gaps in the clouds (the sky is very dark)... although I don't know if that would change things too much.