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Lesson Info

Weather

weather. This is a good one because it's going to basically dictate your life as an outdoor photographer. Weather reports are vital understanding what you're gonna work with. Each of the below conditions. I can assume I'll be doing one of the following. And the reason I list these out is because there's no such thing as I'm not taking pictures today. Very rarely. I mean, it's gotta be gusting, windy, miserable for me to stay in. For the most part, everything is something. You know, I was filming these albatross out on the island. It started to rain all the day's over. Instead, I went in. I got a cover for my camera. Have a rain cover for my camera. I got outside and my jacket. My hat, You know, an umbrella. Yeah, I pared down as much as I could, got his waterproof as much as I could, and I got the rain beating up on their feathers and shaking their heads. In all of this behavior that would have made the otherwise another person might not have done it showed things in a new way. There's...

no such thing as a day that you can't do something You just have to figure remember that they're different kinds of weather. Different kinds of conditions lead to different kinds of steps. So you can anticipate that I will show you some of the technology that I use anticipated as much as possible. But essentially these air my hard and fast rules, so to speak. Sunny, No clouds. I already know if I got a crystal clear day. I'm probably work sunrise and sunset that midday light is gonna be so harsh. Not very contrast. The unless I can find overhangs replaces with diffused light. For the most part, I'm probably gonna really hone in on sunrise and sunset time to use the middle of the day to scout locations and figure out where I want to be. Sunny, scattered clouds That's my favorite. Those beautiful bluebird days, But big, white, puffy clouds iss sunrise to sunset. You can shoot all day long and make great images. Polarizer is whatever you learn that in other parts of boot camp. But sonny with scattered clouds is probably my favorite. Probably be first, right? Most people think this is first sunny, clear days with no clouds. Actually, probably my least favorite. It was nodding like, Yeah, me too. Yeah, they're my least favorite there, really challenging. And there's so few places that were very, very well like that. Clouds give you texture. They give you layers and color and different rays of light. And there's just so much more that happens when you have clout. So is my favorite thunderstorms. Of course. Safety first, right. But be opportunistic about it. Usually right before the storm. You get that dark, dramatic sky and light, and then right after the storm, you might get similar rainbows. Things like that. Um, I try to anticipate the best place to be immediately, before and after during probably not a whole lot. You want to Do you want to be safe? Of course. Um, so there's different ways to handle that. A lot of times, different places like the Grand Canyon or wherever you might want to use, like a lightning sensor, one of the APS whatever that allows you to time lightning or watch a storm blow by Now that might be kind of cool. Then you get the lightning on the rim or something like that. But for the most part, that's my rule. Before and after on a thunderstorm, especially in certain certain areas. That was like high humidity, like Florida's really great for that really nice nice area there. Teoh work. Overcast conditions. Those are the days they dread there, there my least favorite. And it's because it's just so flat, the lights flat. You know, it's kind of like this nice soft light that we have in here is great for this. It's great for interviews. If you're doing motion, it might be good for portraiture. If you can find a little way to cast some shadow, maybe a tree or overhang or light, um, being limited from one side or another. Maybe you bring ah, reflector card and kind of do that. You get a little bit more of a contrast range, but details. So one of the things when we were north cascades for this boot camp that we focused on were detailed shots, and that's because the clouds blew in. We were on this beautiful mountain lake snowfields and everything, but the light was boring. I was gonna force it. So the team creativelive everyone's like, Let's get out of here. Let's go to a different spot. Let's focus on these wildflowers removed the light change. We got lucky, but we're able to make these great images cause it's just this giant soft box, overcast conditions. They're great for details. For macro photography, it's a great way to make it work for you. Detail work as best as possible Rain. I already talked a little bit about, you know, always looking for that storm break your pretty limited for rain. It's probably, you know, these are definitely not an order of priority, but rain could be pretty tough. Um, but it doesn't mean you're limited, you know? Think about how that might show something. You know, I think it's especially true when you're thinking about motion. You want to think about all these things you know, wind, um, rain, you know, thunderstorms. Maybe time lapse of those things like that. So you're starting to get a new level of storytelling with all of this, and that's all part of the planning process. Right? And that's why preparing and knowing what's coming where you want to be is very important. Snow could be in all the issue. Really see rules for Sonny and all the other conditions wind. Same thing gives you an opportunity to really show motion field we long exposures, grass blowing, wildflowers moving around. Um, you know, dust and sand could be really cool. Could really work against you. I've done sandstorm work before. Motion cameras. I regretted it because to this day, my lenses sound like rock tumblers. But, um, you know all these conditions essentially, though, have an opportunity. Each of these is a way to limit yourself. Don't make excuses for not going out. Find it. Be safe. Go where you're gonna go and make the images work based on whether I use these things. Um, I have no stake in them. These air, actually, what I like, uh, whether they're Tuapse, TPE photographers, ephemera s and sky fire are great. Scott fires pretty cool. I actually found this causes. Ah, this guy's a buddy of mine. It seems Matt and he develop this thing is mad rocket scientist kind of guy and he said, Well, you know, different conditions in the weather and the topography of the land are gonna give you different points to be in. And it's really helpful because he says, Okay, this is the hot spot. This is where you want to be? This is where the clouds are gonna break. Just enough that the light comes in and you get that red sunset. It works really, really, really well. It's like I forget the percent of accuracy. Kill me if I am wrong, but it's like 80 or 90% accurate of what you're actually going to get. So if you're trying to put yourself in the right position, you want to know where you're going to be and you want to be able to go and say, Okay, I might gonna really go and hike this whole trail. I can't tell you how many times I was in Yosemite remember this one time And I was I had hiked 45 miles up to some Alpine leak and trying to figure out, you know, do I come down Or do I stay up high? Or, you know, where should I? Because I could see this storm coming in and I rolled the dice and I got lucky. That particular case I got a killer sunset, you know, not far off the road. In all honesty, it was really, really nice that I stayed up high. I would've been stuck up there, probably in the rain. And I would have had never had that perspective that I had with more of a wide open area than where I was up at the lake. So being in the right place at the right time is very important. And, um, using technology to help you do that is great. The more you do it, the more you're gonna just anticipate it. Um, you know, I'm looking like the old man in the sea. I could pretty much tell you what the weather is gonna be elected by stepping outside these days, but, um, researcher location. You know, I like to use, uh, you know, my stock portal. Of course. You know, Stuart, search and say OK, you know, here's what I want to, um, Here's what I'm looking for. You get ideas, you know, you might get a sense of like, OK, there's a mountain in the distance or cactus or whatever. Um, physically looking at other photos is going to be really important. You know, they give you information that no other real research is gonna give you. No amount of satellite imagery. No amount of APS are going to give you. They don't have to be pro images. That can be amateur images from any website that could be your neighbors. Images your friends hike, whatever it might be. Social media images just get a sense of what it is. Even when I'm in the field at the end of the night. If I have a signal on my phone a lot times, I'll go. You know, when I look at Hashtags of that place that I'm at, whatever it might be, you know, Midway a toll of Palmyra Atoll and I'll see things. Other scientists and people have posted pictures that they took the not good pictures. I'm not looking toe get the same competence composition I'm looking to see. Okay, what species did they see? You know, what did they what part of the island they go to? That maybe I haven't been to yet. So researching actual images from other people, eyes really helpful. Um, talk to people already mentioned that I said, Don't be the curmudgeonly photographer we have sometimes a bad reputation. Photographers, we have to be nice and talk to people and share your information to There's many different ways to photograph something. So don't be afraid to share your information with other people. Maybe build a community of other people's well that will help you figure things out. You're gonna learn a lot about the location, um, and the wildlife and maybe sightings as well, you know, like Yellowstone, for instance. Oh, there's a, you know, an animal kill over here, and there's a grizzly bear and wolves on it or something like that. That's how you're gonna figure things out. It's all about dialogue. Um, let people know where you're going, of course, and have backup plans and locations picked out. Don't get married. One idea. Go with several ideas. You know, go with a bunch of different places, have different points because the truth is, until you get there, you don't really know what you're getting. It's nothing like being on location. There's only so much pre planning you can really dio um, you know, if it's sunny, you might go here. If it's overcast, I might go here. So have a few different ideas. Based on different weather conditions and changing weather conditions. I think it's really important this is out on. Palmyra told this was something that in my research I had found I didn't even know it was out there. Somebody had posted a picture and I'm like, Oh, I gotta figure out where his old plane is end up being very accessible. But it was great because it was like the epitome of Lost island of the Pacific kind of thing. And so it's all part of this hidden Pacific project that I'm working on right now and decision wildlife film I'm doing. So it's It's pretty cool. Be able to do that location scouting. We'll give you a sense of what's anticipate. When I saw this online, I knew that I wanted to bring a glide rail. I wanted to move in. Your able to help pick year location scouting also helps you figure out what you need to bring. Do you want to bring a lot of stuff you're not, um, so on and so forth