Washed out, amorphous skies are weak points of many landscape photographs. Even a solid blue sky can look uninteresting, and usually will not deserve much space in the frame. But well-defined, interesting cloud formations can turn an otherwise ordinary picture into something special. At their best, clouds can be the main point of the shot.
Types of Clouds
Meteorologists identify many types of clouds, from the towering, billowing cumulus to the wispy, high-altitude cirrus. They can hide the sun or reflect its light. They can be dark and threatening, they can be delicate white brush strokes on an azure canvas or, for a few minutes, the rising or setting sun can light them up in every shade from yellow to bright red. A leaden sky with a bright horizon can add an emotional dimension to the story that the picture tells.
But most important, to be useful for us as photographers the clouds must show intricate natural patterns that will add interest and detail to the shot.
Basic Equipment to Enhance the Clouds
A few basic pieces of equipment can help bring out the best of the clouds. Use a graduated neutral density filter to avoid over-exposing the highlights. Take separate light readings for the sky and foreground to decide which strength filter to fit; for this you can use the camera’s internal meter, but a separate light meter is easier to operate and more accurate.
A circular polarizing filter can bring up the contrasts of light and shade within the clouds, enhancing the level of detail.
Balancing the Composition
The better and more impressive the clouds, the more of the picture they should take up, so give the clouds an appropriate share of the frame. Following our “rule of thirds”, we can allocate them either the top third or the top two thirds of the shot.
If the clouds are dramatic and big enough, they can be the main point of the picture and occupy the top two thirds of the frame. Otherwise restrict them to the top third and they will strengthen the background without losing their impact.
Digital Processing
After the shoot, clouds often benefit from a little electronic tweaking. First check the histogram for blown-out highlights, and use the “recovery” slider in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom to fix them.
A light touch on the clarity, saturation and, especially, the vibrance controls may help bring out the detail of the clouds. “Clarity” improves local contrast and so brings up the level of definition of areas of detail that are typical of big formations of cumulus clouds. “Vibrance” selectively adds saturation to the least saturated colours, and can add impact to any clouds but especially at dawn and sunset.
Split Toning
The Split Toning function of Camera Raw and Lightroom allows you to adjust the saturation separately for each hue within the highlights and shadows, a useful feature if you want to restrict your adjustments to the clouds and leave the foreground untouched.
But as always, you will do the real work of creating fine pictures while you are outdoors, not at your computer. When you are in the field planning your compositions, keep an eye on the sky as well as on the landscape. We tend to look horizontally through our viewfinders, so a great cloudscape is surprisingly easy to miss. But a great cloud shot can make your day.
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