darker clouds, something like this?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slobodan_blagojevic/4174492119/
I assume you are teasingly trying to point out an apparent inconsistency between how I use "
darker clouds" in my own photography and my comments to others (i.e., "...
clouds would remain
white..."). I see how one can interpret it that way (i.e., as inconsistency), especially if not reading my two posts together, so to make it perfectly clear (or so I hope):
As I said, I have nothing against darker skies... I have nothing against darker clouds either... I was, however, commenting about
unevenly dark
skies (OP's image #1) and
unevenly dark
clouds (#3). And by "unevenly dark clouds" I do not mean all clouds should be "equally white" either. It is quite possible there could be different shades of clouds simultaneously, from white to almost black, in the same sky, but that would be usually related to a storm, and the lighting would be reflecting storm conditions everywhere else in the scene. In #3 it appears that the conditions were generally sunny, with no other indicators of approaching storm, hence the upper most clouds being so much darker (actually murkier) than those closer to the horizon creates an unnatural feeling (again, me think).
As for my own photograph, that was a stormy, windy, late-winter day on the shores of the Lake Michigan (Chicago), and yes, I emphasized the mood by darkening the sky and clouds even further for added drama. Whether I succeeded or not, I leave to others to judge.