all of your skies are great! do i need c1 to deepen / darken my skies this way or can it be done equally well in photoshop?

Do you shoot them in color and convert them later? Im guessing that you do. I like the contrast, sky looks like it has four seperate grey ranges...(kinda distinct), maybe its just my laptop screen. But I still like it.

Really like the tones, and that boat looks like a classic. It's cool how the vapor trail looks like it's going in one ear and out the other.

I like the shot, but have to admit that I don't really care as much for the contrail in the sky.

very very nice, I must say that every single photo that you post is amazing

I like the shot, although I think this would have looked equally good in colour? I'm trying to imagine how the sky would mix with the trees and water. Great details as ever.

I would have loved to have seen this one in colour out of curiousity! :) Well Dave your photos have inspired me to go to Blackpool tomorrow (sunday), instead of another beach - for a photographic and social outing ;) I hope I manage to get some decent photos :)

Great composition, but it doesn't evoke emotion for me. I wish there was a cove or a dock he was traveling towards. I don't feel like he is moving either. I wish there was more wind in his shirt. Do you have others that may convey this more effectively? I love the look of the boat and the colors... I wish I could generate those.

Very cool, probably my favorite in the recent weeks. The simplicity of the boat is what makes it for me. I might try and remove the contrail... but that may be more work than it's worth...

ncie b/w composition. like the way jonh sites at the steer. and looks out in the far beyond!

Had it been not B/W, it would have had a normal look.
Awesome pic buddy..

i think you've overdone the post-process on the sky here david. the clouds to the left of the picture look to thin in their densityand the blur is also too much when judged with the trees in the foreground.
as regards to the composition, this is perfect, as usual.

doug: I do all my post-processing in CS, just using C1 for RAW conversion and white balance, so yes, these sort of skies can be achieved in CS.

Fellow Eskimo: I always shoot in RAW format and convert later.

Brian: I did wonder about the contrail, but decided I quite liked it.

Ben: it almost worked in colour, but it lacked impact so I went for B&W instead.

Jem: let me know how you got on.

Adam: I did try to convey a sense of movement with some of the other shots I took but none of them really showed it, mostly I think because these boats are very slow anyway.

canon-craig: the blur of the clouds is natural.

Great tones Dave, very rich.

Beautiful, it looks like a scene from a '50s movie.

Great shot. Two things that catch my eye. First of all the bird. I can see it's place in the composition but it kind of ruins the calm of the shot for me. Second the trees and clouds in the left side of the photo are a bit on the too-processed side for me. Still a great shot, though!

what levels of sharpening do you usually do?

Thanks everyone.

Shaun: typically, on the resized image, I use a USM setting of 250, 0.2, 0.

I have tried and tried to get skies like this, but couldn't get it... either I get too much noise or I lose the contrast when I darken. Any hints? I'm using the channel mixer and levels to go to B&W and adjust contrast, respectively.

Beautiful shot! Did you use calculations to achieve this?

unreal! looks amazing. you are one amazing photographer.

I love your B&W shots. Can you desribe your process? Is it a grayscale with a bump of contrast or do you use any duotones?

phew, one of your best I'd say :)

I really enjoy this one as well. It really inspires me to take a deeper look at the world. Well done, again.