When the movie 'Twister' came out in 1997, my stock agency told me they were having a lot of requests for tornado pictures and, at the time, they didn't have any good ones. They asked if I could make one, digitally, and I responded with "I don't know, but I'll try." The composite you see here is the second one I made (the first one became my all-time best selling image), and my favorite. It took me two days of thinking about how to make the funnel cloud look like it was spinning. To make the horizontal striations you see that imply rotation, I took a cloud photo and drastically flattened it (using Edit > transform > scale), and then I simply pasted it into the funnel with a lowered opacity. To make the funnel itself, I drew the shape with the lasso tool, feathered the edge, and then cloned storm clouds into it from another shot. The 'fixer upper' is an abandoned house I found in Arizona somewhere while I was looking for landscapes to shoot. I added the lightning because a violent storm is often accompanied by electrical activity.
5 Comments
Nov 28, 2023, 11:05:11 AM
Jim - Joshua, Is this a commercial album cover? Do you have a budget for the purchase of this image, or are you asking to use it for free? Jim
Nov 28, 2023, 1:43:26 AM
Jtru - Also. 18,500 is a steal for such simple perfection
Nov 28, 2023, 1:41:42 AM
Joshua Truesdale - Hello there! My name is Joshua Truesdale im from Ohio and have been admiring your awesome tornadoes photography and I found one of your pictures and thought it perfect for an album cover visually and would love to request formally if i can use the aforementioned photo via email if this didn't personally hyperlink it for you, come whatever may please reach back i will always credit + tag + and tip when its released to my page kidloquacious@gmail.com Or Jtru771@gmail.com
Oct 7, 2018, 5:04:07 PM
Jim - Hi Richard,
Here is a link to the first one -- first picture on the left. This is the one that made a lot of money
for me, selling one time for $18,500 . . . when stock photography was still a viable way to earn
a living. In my opinion, though, it's not nearly as good as the second one.
https://plus.google.com/112579102982844865076
Oct 7, 2018, 3:24:21 PM
Richard - Hey Jim,have you shown or could you show the first one? Love your creativity & many thanks for your explanations. Best regards,Richard.