EMBRACE THE ELEMENTS FOR AMAZING LANDSCAPES

You don’t need perfect weather for stunning images – Kilian Schönberger shows you how rain, mist and fog can provide great shooting opportunities

- Kilian Schonberger

The rain is beating against the windows, the sky is a leaden grey, and the world just looks drab – and the weather forecast doesn’t look too promising either. Your frustration is slowly growing, especially if it looks like you’ll have to write off an expensive photo trip as a disaster because of bad weather.

Perhaps understandably, many photographers think in this way. But over the next few pages of this feature you’ll learn how to handle such ‘bad’ conditions – and perhaps even learn to love them. In my opinion there’s only one kind of bad weather for landscape photography: an all-blue sky with harsh sunlight at lunchtime.

But back to stormy and misty weather – your new favourite weather conditions for atmospheric pictures. To master truly dramatic landscapes, you have to understand that the weather is an important part of visual storytelling. When you have to handle ‘bad’ conditions on location, it makes no sense to complain and to wait for the next sunset with dancing colours. Instead, get yourself in touch with the secret beauty of dull, grey days…

WAIT FOR THE RIGHT LIGHT

Cloudy skies can yield dramatic shots – but to be in the right spot at the right time means going out when it’s still raining

HOW TO CAPTURE THE SPECTACULAR

Understanding the weather is key to getting great shots

TIME IT RIGHT

Wait around until the light has faded, so that you can capture moments like this, where the golden hue of the lowering sun is reflecting off every cloud

STORMY WEATHER