May 14th and 15th was Round 2 of the CalROCS series up in Oroville CA. I was able to get in with a media pass which allowed me to get right up close to the action and take some pretty cool shots. Especially on day 2 because this time I brought my wide angle lense with me. The wide angle allowed me to get within a foot of the vehicle but still capture the entire scene.

What I was not prepared for was the wild weather pattern that we had. It was dry one moment, and raining the next, or any combination in between. At one point we even had hail that ranged in size from small pee's to about the size of a nickle. It was definitely a strange weather pattern for Oroville that's for sure.

Because the weather was so erratic I left feeling concerned about the pictures. Did they turn out? Having to make adjustments all day long I had no idea what I was going to be left with. Despite the erratic weather, I think I got some okay shots. And in some cases the ominous clouds only added to the scene making it more interesting to look at.

I know some of you are going to look at the pictures and wonder if they have Photoshop effects applied to them. The answer is Yes they do. Although the originals were interesting enough, I applied a little extra hyper-realism to them by pumping up the contrast, sharpening, and adding extra saturation to them. What I did NOT do, was do any sky painting, or sky replacements or any other type of manipulation on them. Let me know in the comments below if you like the effect or if you hate it and think it ruins the pictures. It's something Im experimenting with and liked the effect so for now Im going to run with it.

Pictures from CalROCS Round 2