Stormy Afternoon in the Desert
As landscape photographers, we are always taught that we need shoot early in the morning or during the “golden hour” and that anything we shoot outside of those hours, is not going to be any good. The more I shoot the more I realize just how wrong this line of thinking really is. What are we really looking for in a good landscape image? We are looking for good light, composition and a sky that will provide interest and even drama. As I spend days looking at the “FlatIron” here in Arizona I have come to realize that good light can be experienced at any time of day and that it is a combination of the clouds and light that will make for a great image, no matter the time of day. If you think about how we shoot in a studio environment, we are always looking for that indirect, soft light and landscape photography is really no different.
I am now finding myself paying much more attention the weather much these days and specifically the cloud cover. If I have a composition or project in mind, I look at the weather to plan around when I feel the clouds will lead to the best light. Will the cloud cover provide for soft indirect light? Will it cover the sun enough to provide for nice shadows for a dramatic effect?
Today’s shoot is a perfect example of a plan that I formulated to get some dramatic images of the FlatIron. I knew a large storm was on its way, so I waited for the storm to arrive and for it to start a heavy rain, knowing full well that the mountain would be enveloped in low clouds. I headed out and grabbed the images you see below. This was not anywhere near the “golden hour” nor was it at dawn. These images were taken in early afternoon without that bathing glow from the evening sun but there was still enough indirect light and good cloud cover to add significant drama to the images.
The key here is the dramatic sky. The sky was changing each and every second and I could have literally hung out here for hours capturing the all of the changing cloud and light patterns from the storm.
Some of my best images over the past year have been taken outside of the golden hour so I no longer focus on that. I take the outside ambient light and sky into consideration and no longer focus on being there in early morning or the evening.
These images were taken with my Canon 5DSr | ISO 100 | 28mm | f11 | 1/40sec.
