Our vision and the “system” it is connected to within our mind and heart is such an amazing sensor to our world! When you contemplate all the info it takes in and relates to us in a heartbeat and without any thought, there are simply no words for it. Translating that input we have visually and matching it with our cameras, that on the other hand can be hand-to-hand combat at times. At times, it can take the joy out of the simple moment we’re trying to capture. This is what I’ve done ever since digital hit the office to make it all simpler.

When I see red in the sky, I set the WB of my camera to Cloudy. Cloudy actually represents a Kelvin temp, 6000k. Our AWB has a limit and in many cases, it is trying to “generalize” the light/color when we want a very specific color, in this case, that of sunset (or sunrise). Many want to do this in post which is of course is an option. I prefer to get it right in the camera making it responsible for getting my memory recorded correctly so that later, I don’t have to think about what was the color, I know because the camera got it right. Often, I will dial the WB up to 9-10k when the color in the sky is that deep, blood-red like the sun trying to make its way through wildlife smoke. It is your memory, you need to preserve it the way that works best for you. I’d rather not think about it, just feel it so I make the camera earn its keep and get it right :-)

The summer monsoon season has arrived and so far is producing spectacular weather. The emotion and moodiness of this weather can be visually incredibly exciting, challenging and dangerous. Being out in the weather leads to the great images if you’re ready. Are you?

The first basic is watching the weather which is a lot easier now with the assist of our iPhones. TMRWWeather, MyRadar, and Lightning Pro are my favorite apps for watching an approaching storm and being prepared. Being prepared includes having the rain shell, the Miops charged (and firmware updated), white towel packed (as you’re going to get wet), and knowing escape routes if you get surprised. Much of the big weather is in the southwest where flash floods can become lethal. You need to know focal length, exposure as well as safety to make the most of this glorious season for landscape photography!

Weather (wx) is the breath of the globe bringing with it demons and angels. A storm can be a curse and a blessing at the same time. It can bring needed goodness or evil, dark or bright, gray or brilliant red. I can go on and on but it’s simpler to wrap it all up in the simple word, emotion. It’s your emotional response to weather, you need to bring to your story, your photograph. Is there a trick to this? I like to keep one phrase in mind no matter the storm to bring out the beauty I see.

It’s the old phrase, every cloud has a silver lining. In our case though, I’m not looking for silver, but white. White and bright, no matter how big or small, when associated with dark, gloomy skies just makes that darkness, darker. The ferocity in the storm is implied even if not real, the imagination takes over. And when you tap a viewer’s imagination, the storyboard has been wiped clean and you can tell away. So just remember next cloud you have in your viewfinder, give it a little light and bright and you’ll bring out the beauty in wx.

I had no clue if it was a strawberry, harvest, super, blue, or the morning of the eclipse last month. All I knew was the moon was gorgeous (is it just me, were all these moon “colors” around when we were kids? No clue). The sun was setting after 11PM and from my room on the bay, I could watch the moon ever so slowly rise in the last glow of the day’s light. The color changed continually so I simply couldn’t put down the Z 6Ii / Z70-200f2.8. And while it was gorgeous, I had no clue how I wanted to bring that story home!

Yeah, I knew the basics to underexposure and focus on the moon and how to connect the lens to the body, but where I wanted the moon in the frame, how big or small, nothing just said to me, “THIS IS THE ONE!” So as the clock clicked by and the light and color changed, I changed up how I told the story. The image at the top I like the best of them, but not one just leaps out to me and that happens. It doesn’t mean I don’t shoot but it does mean that I will more than likely never share it.  In all reality, how are you to know the story if I hadn’t a clue?