I was lucky enough to find myself in Sevier County today on business. Between meetings, I drove the Gatlinburg "bypass" to my favorite Mount LeConte overlook. For the day after Labor Day, the weather was warm (84) but pleasant. As the image demonstrates, the clouds were thick, but full of character.
I've said the middle of the afternoon is usually not a great time for landscape photographs but there are always exceptions. The point I was trying to convey was not so much the details of Mount LeConte, the clouds obscured the peaks anyway and moving the camera angle any lower would have included in the image some unsightly weeds that have grown up over the summer. Taking what was offered, I focused on capturing the contrasts in the summer clouds without worrying too much about the exposure on the mountain.
Because it was the afternoon, the overall contrast in the clouds was low; the original image is quite flat. I chose this one (out of the several rather good potential images) because the exposure captured the sunlight on Mount LeConte without over-exposing the brightest spots in the clouds.
