Landscape photographers love the Sierra Nevada range not just for the majestic mountains but also because the skies are often filled with dramatic cirrus and cumulous clouds.
I drove for miles on US Highway 395 in the Owens Valley looking for a great foreground subject that would lead the eye to the mountain peaks, then suddenly realized the sky and clouds needed to have prominence in my photo for this vista.
The Sierras in general and skies like this in particular really lend themselves to black & white photography, à la Ansel Adams. Digital processing tools we have today make it easy to experiment and select a tonal balance from myriad choices. Sometimes I miss the old wet darkroom days, but I know I would have spent hours hovering over the chemicals and wasted many sheets of silver-laced paper trying to make a print of this image. In Lightroom it is easy to try different apps and presets in a short amount of time. For this photo, I tried several presets in Silver Efex Pro, Perfect Effects, and Topaz Adjust. In the end, I settled on the Orange Filter 2 B&W Preset that Michael Frye includes with his excellent Landscapes in Lightroom 5 tutorial for the right combination of dramatic sky and tonal contrast in the mountains.
by 
Beautiful! Love touring with you from my living room computer…more please!!
Thanks, Linda! I enjoy sharing my travels, too, so stay tuned.
Great shot, Greg. I’ve found that in my photography, I like including big skies in my compositions, especially with interesting clouds. Not only are they dramatic, you can make good images without much in the foreground (or even eliminating distracting foregrounds).
Agreed on all points, Joe. On this trip I went from the plain gray skies of early spring in Oregon to cloudless hazy blue skies of southern California. so when these amazing clouds started to build up as I was heading north I was looking for a vantage point to take advantage of the big sky.
This is such a beautiful picture. Black and white is perfect for it. What time of day did you shoot this?
KJM
Elati Photography
Thanks, Kevin. Exif data tells me I made this photograph at 7:30 in the morning. The night before I scouted a spot along the Owens River for a dawn shoot, but the sun rose through haze in the east to an empty sky over the Sierras. so I was delighted when these wonderful clouds began to build.
Nice image…..but I will take the chemistry route.
Thanks, Tom. I know you would also have shot it on 4×5 black & white film. Would you have gone with the orange filter?