One of the most influential elements to our photography is weather. If you watch the TV for weather information, you often look out your window and wonder what they are looking at. Weather is constantly changing and with it our photograph. From the clouds overhead, the light and many other factors, it can make or break your photography. I offer up these three images taken in England in April to illustrate my point. This Dragon Rapide offering rides at Duxford is a cool looking aircraft. Any plane called a Dragon has gotta be cool, right? With bald skies, it would still be a cool aircraft but the photograph, perhaps not so much. These photographs were taken over a 15 minute period of time. Looking at the first image, would you guess the third image is just 15min away?
With the influence of clouds on our photography, learning to understand which way they are traveling helps. On an aerodrome such as this, you can look at the windsock for a hint on the ground winds. You can of course just look up at the clouds and watch which why they are blowing. The point is to look at what you’ve got and to look to see what you will have and plot how this will effect your photograph. You’d be surprised how quickly if you start looking up and staring for a few minutes how it will help your photography.
I was shooting with the D4s & D750 with the 14-24AFS during this time. I closed the lens down all the way to get the slowest shutter speed to blur the props. I would switch bodies because I needed the swing out monitor at times so when I leaned over the fence, I could shoot at ground level and see the plane. Then I looked up and saw the clouds that were coming and planned my shot, looking at where the plane was, the clouds would be and the shot I desired. While I like the light on the Dragon in the first photo, I love the clouds in the last so of these three, the third photo is my favorite. Is it the best? NO, just the best of these 15min. By looking at the weather, I knew to stick to my guns for this shot and that’s the point. Learn to read the weather, it will improve your photographs.