Guest post from our friend Don Barone:
There is a moment when the light is perfect. A moment when the Earth has bathed, cleansed itself of the day, the grime, the perspiration, the chaos. It is the sweet spot for outdoor photography no matter where your “outdoor” is at. Golden moments for the taking, right after the storm.
Some chase storms, some wait.
The storm clears the atmosphere, gets rid of all the junk floating around and as my 8 year old neighbor says, “makes it all happy up there.”
All happy down here too, lots of talk about the “Golden Hour,” the hour or so right after sunrise or sunset, but don’t overlook the “Golden Moments,” the few minutes after the storm. It comes quick so when I shoot it this is what I do…BTW…MAKE SURE THE STORM IS OVER LIGHTENING IS NOTHING TO FOOL AROUND WITH.
Tripod: Not only will it steady the camera as the front moves by but it will allow you to go up and down the manual settings on your camera.
Bracket: Many say to underexpose the shot, that tends to make me nervous so what I do is to bracket the image, move up the dial, move down, adjust on the moves, it has always given me at least a couple shots that I’m not afraid to show my wife.
F/4: If you want more details in the clouds being around f/4 will do that for you.
Shutter Speed: Go as low as you can and thank your tripod for that shot.
ISO 100: I always use it when I can, pops the colors, makes blue…BLUE.
Lens: Most say wide angle, it works, I used it in South Dakota which is a very wide-angle state. Most times to be hones I shoot with my Macro 100 lens, it is the sweet spot in my lens kit, but don’t be afraid to change up lenses if you have them.
Filters: Some people swear by them, I don’t, never have used one, but there are lots of nice photos taken with them strapped on the front of the camera. You choose.
RAW: Shoot RAW if you can it significantly helps in the editing process, gives you lots of nooks and crannies in that mysterious world of image editing.
Experiment: Sometimes in post I add a very tiny bit of a texture layer over the image as the last edit…nothing that jumps out at you, just something that sort of adds a little depth to the shot.
Buy a Raincoat for you AND the Camera: And no, I don’t sell raincoats but I use them, always have one rolled up in the camera bag, it sits right next to the Rain Cover for the camera…try to get one that covers not only the camera body but the longest lens you’ll put on that body.
Stick your tongue out: Those last drops fall slower and are bigger and if you take only one thing away from these tips may it be this: the last drops of the storm, taste sweeter.
