“What a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky!” To most people this phrase means good things, but when I have my camera in hand, it’s actually just the opposite. As landscape photographers, there are many elements of a scene we look for when composing a shot. Typically the first things we analyze when shooting a landscape are the foreground and background elements, but often times we overlook what’s above our heads. It’s easy to dismiss clouds as another piece to your landscape puzzle, but if you pay special attention to the fluffy white stuff, your images can take that next step. I’m going to touch on why you should start paying more attention to clouds and break down some techniques on making them work for you.
Blue is boring
Start thinking of landscape images with three equally weighted segments: foreground, background and sky. Your goal should be to have each segment of the frame adding interest to your image. As your viewer’s eye travels up or down the photograph, don’t let it stop abruptly with a featureless blue sky. Sure, sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it (ie, you’re on vacation), but when shooting near your home, get that camera out when the sky has some character. It’s perfectly fine returning to a favorite spot or capturing the same scene more than once. Adding clouds to a previously similar image can dramatically improve your shot.
I’ve headed back to this same spot at my local beach multiple times. I was rewarded during my last visit with an impressive cloud filled sky which put previous boring sky shots to shame.