Between the storms

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Here in LA we're in between rainstorms as I write. I caught this northward view of the San Gabriel mountain range late this afternoon just before sunset from Arrow Route in Rancho Cucamonga. This is one of the best snowfalls I've seen in the 10 years I've been watching the mountain moods. The trick is finding a clear view of the mountains without buildings, trees or wires!

The six separate frames were combined into the panorama using Calico, with additional effects by LucisArt (Sculpture setting) and onOne PhotoTools Pro (various layered effects).

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Here's a zoomed-in shot of the same scene with similar post processing, plus edges by onOne PhotoFrame.

I'm adding a side-by-side of the original unretouched shot with the LucisArt treatment. The rest of the processing with PhotoTools you can see in the final version.

It's sunny and mostly clear today so I'll go back and make another set of shots a little later. It may be white snow on blue sky if the weather holds, a totally different mood (skiing weather!).

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Here's the followup from today: Nice and bright, but not nearly as dramatic. No post-processing other than Calico panorama software.

By afternoon the skies had grayed up and the cloud deck lowered into the mountains. It's raining again.