CloudHigh above the Finger Lakes, cloud after cloud roll through the crystal clear, summer sky

I love this time of year in the Finger Lakes when the clear airs of Spring meet the oncoming humidity of summer.  It reminds me of travelling in northern Europe when clear blue skies would be contrasted by endless lines of puffy, white cumulus clouds.  Like water rippling out in a lake, these giants expand throughout the sky like a sponge soaking up all the surrounding moisture.  They live and breath, growing through the sky.

On this day with the sky some bright, clear, and blue, the clouds were so well defined and expansive.  This particular cloud was impressive not only in its thickness and numerous layers, but in its need to devour all the clear sky before it in increasing crescendos.

I knew immediately that I was shooting for black and white, already dreaming about how the cloud would look as white against a stark black canvas.  All the textures and crevices, the contours and depths, would be accentuated and highlighted in ways unseen to the human eye.  It exceeded all my expectations.

Visit the Digital Photography School's website for tutorials here and here on how to take great cloud photographs.  And see more stunning cloud photographs here.