What is a "beautiful" day?

How many times have you heard someone say "What a beautiful day; not a cloud in the sky!"? Too many to count? Probably. In fact, you have probably said it yourself. I know I have. I don't say it anymore. In fact, to me there are few things more boring than a cloudless sky. Of course, I am looking at it from the perspective of a landscape photographer. If you have been following me you have probably noticed that I tend to like a lot of clouds in my landscapes. I am always on the lookout for an image to present itself but when I see a great sky I go out in search for the perfect spot to shoot it. I have been known to drive miles out of my way; sometimes I am rewarded and others I go away disappointed.

There are times when you just don't have a choice, such as the panorama above. I stopped at the Delaware Water Gap one afternoon and ventured up River Road/Old Mine Road to the trail head for the Karamac Trail. This is a one-lane road with a traffic light at each end; there is just enough room for a car to drive along. The road is closed in the winter and, for me at least, it is a scary drive. I headed down the trail and came to an opening that looked out onto the Delaware River. The view was breathtaking! You can see there are no clouds but I shot anyway. I was so taken in by the beauty and didn't know if I was going to get back to this spot again. I could have waited for clouds but there were none for miles in all directions. My goal is to get back to this spot one day under better conditions and re-shoot.

Here is a beautiful autumn day. The trees are alive with color, there is a nice reflection in the water and the sky is a perfectly clear. I liked this image and I sold it a number of times when it was part of my stock portfolio but I never "loved" it. I always thought it was lacking in some way. I was fooling around in Photoshop one day and decided to see what the shot would be like with clouds. The result is shown below.

What do you think? For me, the clouds make the image much more interesting. This was one of my first attempts at "serious" editing in Photoshop. I don't like adding things to images but I wanted to see cloud vs no cloud using the same image.

I will leave you with a few more examples of the same location shot with clouds and without. You be the judge! Leave comments below and let me know what your idea of a beautiful day is and whether you changed your mind after reading this post.

All photos are copyright Joseph S. Valencia All Rights Reserved They may not be used in any way without express written permission of the photographer.

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