Page 41 - Cape-Camera-July-August-2021

Cape Camera July/August 2021

(left) Sea Smoke (one of the author’s favourite weather phenomena) shot with a Canon Rebel t2i, EF-18-55,
18mm, 1/15 sec. @ f/8, ISO 100; (right) Cold mist and strong winds communicate the harshness of the ele-
ments. Shot with a Sony a7r2, Canon 100-400L, 105mm, 1/125 sec. @ f/5, ISO 100 (both images by Benjamin
Williamson)
Understanding weather patterns and cloud formations greatly
improves outdoor photography

An introduction to weather for landscape and nature photographers
By Benjamin Williamson*

Many of the best landscape and when clouds have interesting textures or when interesting
and nature photographers, clouds move through mountainous terrain, the resulting light
even those who aren’t total and atmosphere can be quite conducive to making impactful
weather nerds, follow the images.
weather. Like most aspects The opposite situation, a complete lack of clouds, can also
of photography, especially prove challenging when photographing landscapes. How
when pursued as a person- many times have you heard someone say, “It’s a beautiful day,
ally expressive and crea- you must be getting great photos,” when in actuality you are
tive endeavour, there are scorning the cloud-free skies. One way to take advantage of
no hard or fast rules when the directional light from the sun, while avoiding a boring sky
it comes to incorporat- is to photograph from an elevated vantage point looking down
ing knowledge of weather on the landscape without including the sky. This is especially
into your workflow. Going useful near the golden hours when directional light casts long
against the grain and photographing a location in conditions shadows and therefore effectively conveys the three-dimen-
that others avoid can often yield great results. What matters are sionality of forms and textures. There are other situations, such
your intentions. Knowing what the weather may do can help as being deep in a slot canyon with sunlight reflecting off the
you explore your ideas about your subject and the landscape walls, where perfectly clear skies are actually highly desirable to
with greater depth and often stronger emotion, leading to work open up the deep shadows.
that communicates your intentions effectively. Often, the sweet spot for most outdoor photography is to have
Weather and Light partly or mostly cloudy skies. Many landscape photographers
The most fundamental element of photography, light, is greatly like to take advantage of the directional light of the sun while
influenced by weather in outdoor photography. Understanding having clouds to create interesting shapes, forms, and textures
how light is affected by humidity, cloud cover and precipita- in our skies. While photographing during the daytime with
tion can help you plan your shoots, as well as react to situations partly cloudy skies can be effective, most outdoor photogra-
as they unfold before you. Some of the most interesting and phers prefer to shoot during the golden hours.
unique lighting situations come about because of interesting One of the most important lessons I want to stress to you is
and unique weather. that you need a clear window of sky on the horizon where the
Clouds sun is either rising from or setting into in order to get the best
From perfectly clear to totally overcast, clouds, or lack thereof, low angle of light and spectrum of hues. How many times has a
can have a profound impact on our primary light source, the bank of clouds on the horizon snuffed out a promising sunrise
sun. or sunset? This is a common mistake I see photographers make.
Take overcast skies for example. Uniform overcast can act as a They shoot sunrise with a departing weather system, in which
clouds on the eastern horizon block the rising sun, or sunset
giant softbox, casting an even light over the landscape. This is with an incoming system where clouds on the western hori-
especially useful in shooting forest scenes and waterfalls, where zon block the setting sun. Remember, it’s oncoming storms at
dappled sunlight streaming through the trees creates distract- sunrise and departing storms at sunset that are most produc-
ing hot spots and too much contrast. However, when it comes tive in locations since weather moves predominantly west to
to a grand landscape or scenic overlook, most photographers east. There are small exceptions to this rule, and one large one:
avoid including a flat grey, cloud-filled sky in the composition Weather in the tropics moves from east to west.
because it is uninteresting, and often distracting because of its
brightness. Of course, there are always exceptions to these rules, Mountains often create their own clouds. When air moves over
a mountain range, it’s pushed upward into relatively cooler air

Cape Town Photographic Society 40