Strange clouds!

[waspo]

OK, heres a couple of fun shots I took of some very disturbing looking clouds today.
Jumped out of the car after my trip in the hills and it just caught my eye.
Couldn't resist playing with one of them in PS.

[krpolak]

Interesting. Looks like underwater view on a wave. But, I will tell you something. Take the second shot and make a negative in Photoshop

K.Polak

[waspo]

Yes. I tried and Gradient map in reverse. Looks very interesting!

[Sheetshooter]

Ya gotta admit it that Barnum & Bailey, Paul Dainty & Loren Ziegfeld all fade into oblivion compared to how nature puts on a show!

These phenomena are so rare and so wonderful that there is little else to do but get out of the comfort & safety of the car and pay homage with a shot or two. My last such encounter was north of Lake George on the Federal Highway.

Thanks for sharing - and Kristian has a good point: make it negative and step up the contrast a tad for yet another dimension.

[ozimax]

Pretty wild image here, excellent, well done and thank the Lord for providing the clouds

Max

[deapee]

wow those are interesting.

[Aussie Dave]

WOW Jase, that first one looks like smoke and fire billowing....certainly an interesting shot. The Dandenongs get some weird weather, so this would be a great place to capture images such as these.

Did you see any cows flying around

Looks like you had an enjoyable day yesterday, in the cold.

[stormygirl]

Excellent captures Waspo!

These clouds are called 'Mammatus' (pronounced mamartus). They are often associated with severe weather, but they, themselves, do not produce the severe weather! They are usually found on the underside of a thunderstorm anvil, but can often appear with other cloud formations as well! They are often quite short-lived, and are usually the favourite cloud formations of storm chasers and weather freaks!!

This was one of the better displays I have seen in Melbourne, and the best were around 5pm last night while I, unfortunately, was cameraless.

I did manage to capture this one as they were almost disappearing earlier in the day.



You have done extremely well to capture these Waspo! Well done!

<sorry if that was too technical....just thought I'd explain what they were for those interested!>

[PiroStitch]

Wow thanks for the explanation Stormy It's good to learn these things as it does come in useful, esp if you want to capture lightning pics Any hints of what clouds to look out for before storms or are these the clouds to look out for?

Waspo, that red cloud pic is great! I can see a bit of Godzilla in the bottom left Feel the wrath of the rubber lizard

[Raydar]

As Stormygirl said, we weather freaks love seeing Mammatus structures like you have captured here.
In the summer months A sight like this would have us running around like chooks with there heads cut off, chasing what ever Cell produced these awesome clouds.

Thanks for shearing!!!

Cheers
Ray:P

[MHD]

Cool
I would love to see a time lapse of that stuff...

With spring coming I must break out my old time lapse gear

[waspo]

Hey, thanks for the explanation Stormy! Cloud formations do fascinate me and it's interesting to know a bit about the technical goings on invovled for such a display.
Here is a pic down my street which lead to the capture of the first picture.



Here is an negative of the second with a bit of pp for more atmosphere. Looks a bit grainy because in my haste, I forgot I still had ISO bumped up to 640 from my Puffing Billy shot in the hills.
Oh well, It's all in good fun! Nature can sure be arty!!