Take the Camera with You!

I often have to remind myself to take the camera with me...  After all, it is really hard to take photos without a camera.  Today I was headed out the door to visit a local airport for recurrent training and I decided to through my camera in the truck.  While leaving the airfield I noticed the thunderclouds in the background and this beautiful yellow tree in the foreground.  It was the stark contrast that caught my attention.  I hopped out of the truck and took a few frames.

Here is what I got.  Notice how the tree is positioned.  I am using the rule of thirds by placing the branches in the upper left third of the image.  This works because the tree itself is extending out to the right and causes the eye to move.

For post processing I used a little bit of Nik Software (pro contrast, tonal contrast) and Lightroom 4 to really bring out the dark clouds and I put a slight vignette to draw the eyes even more to the tree.

In the end...  I am GLAD I took my camera!!!!