Egmont mentioned that he is really into clouds at the moment, so this photo goes out to him. Let me also mention Saurav, who's dramatic sky/landscape images are an inspiration. But all of you clouds lovers out there, feel free to appreciate it. ;] I've seen some incredible cloud shots on RO lately and want to add a couple that I feel are quite dramatic. We've been having some amazing skies here in Florida lately, and I have tried to capture them when I can. These photos were taken while traveling through the wilds of central Florida. The country opens up and you can see for miles and miles. They were taken late afternoon, a common time for thunderstorms to form during the summers in Florida. I was in the area known as Lightning Alley on Interstate 4 between Orlando and St. Petersburg. There is more lightning activity on Lightning Alley than any other area in the USA. Florida is lightning capital of the United States, experiencing lightning strikes at least 100 days per year. In comparison, California has four or five thunderstorm days per year. But I digress. What caught my attention was the interesting optical illusion found near the horizon. There was a spot where the more sedate clouds were meeting the wall of thunderclouds that played with my sense of perception. At the bottom a trail of clouds appear in front of the lighter background clouds, but towards the top, the lighter clouds appeared to be in front of them. Where they met, there was a subtle push-pull. It was a tough choice whether to post a larger version of the bottom image or just the top image. In the end, the drama of the top photo and the subtle interest of the bottom persuaded me to present both together. I apologize if the combination is a little unwieldy.

----- Olympus C8080 & PhotoshopCS. Thank you for stopping by and for your comments on yesterday's image, Beaming.