How to Photograph Storms That Capture All the Drama
Everyone has their own goals in life. For some, it’s climbing a mountain or writing a novel. For others, it is taking photographs of extreme weather, which is then incorporated into their local weather forecast. The problem is that taking a good picture of an approaching storm or cloud formation is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, most of the results are poor.
But there are ways to improve, and KXAN Austin has a few suggestions . Here are some tips for capturing the whole drama of the changing sky.
Be safe
This should be taken for granted, but you are not a professional storm hunter (unless you are) and your safety should always be your top priority. Also, do not take photos or videos while driving. If you encounter interesting weather on the road, either stop first or ask the passenger to be a photographer.
Check lighting
Like other types of photography, lighting can enhance or ruin your photographs in harsh weather. Here’s how KXAN suggests making sure you have the right lighting:
To avoid this, most smartphones (if configured automatically in the camera app) allow you to tap on different areas of the screen to adjust the lighting before taking a photo. Clicking on a dark area will brighten some parts of the image, while clicking on a light area will darken parts of the image. It’s the same with the video.
Also, avoid using flash on your phone (or camera) whenever possible. Now is not the time.
Keep it in focus
If there is something close in your photo – like a large hailstone – be sure to take an extra second or two to focus the shot. Here’s KXAN again with a hint:
Similar to adjusting lighting, touching different areas of the screen in the camera app will cause the areas you click on to be in focus. When you’re ready, tap on the subject of the photo to have your smartphone camera sharpen it. Make sure you also stand as still as possible to avoid blur.
And if you are capturing hail because it is unusually large, consider adding something else to the frame to zoom in.
Capture wide shots of stormy skies.
If something really interesting happens in the sky – like colorful clouds at sunset or a rainbow – it’s tempting to zoom in on the entire image so it looks as close as possible. But instead of looking like a picture from a science textbook, these photographs tend to be grainy and of lower quality. Use wide frames instead.