Kevin Li took NATS 1780 two years ago. In addition to maintaining an interest in weather and climate, Kevin remains an accomplished and enthusiastic photographer. I asked Kevin if he might have a few cloud-photo tips to share with the students currently taking NATS 1780 at Toronto’s York University. Here’s his response:

Four Tips for Taking Great Cloud Photos:

• It starts with composition of the photo (what you include in your photo, mostly clouds with some landscape or just clouds and the sky?) good composition will show us location, approximate time of the day, and weather conditions (which could explain why the shape of the clouds are the way they are)
• Head out in the early morning around sunrise and around sunset. This will add some warm colours to your photos especially around sunset. You will notice that the clouds are more visible and distinct in those times of the day rather than mid-day
• Focusing of the camera will be crucial and will depend on your camera. The focus should be placed on the cloud you want to photograph. This allows the camera to adjust the lighting to avoid over exposure and or under exposure
• Lastly, if you are using a smartphone, your phone might have a feature that will boost the colour saturation levels. This feature will make some if your photos pop! For those with dslrs and point and shoot cameras, this can be done in post-production or maybe in-camera depending on the camera you have.

It’s not about the camera, but the person who is behind the camera! 🙂

Note for DSLR users only: A circular polarizer will help on those bright sunny days. If you don’t have one, use a high shutter speed or decrease the aperature size to f8 or smaller.

Many thanks to Kevin for sharing this excellent advice!

If you have additional tips to share, please feel free to add a comment. If you have a question, I’m sure I can persuade Kevin to answer it.