The Art of Clouds: The Beauty of the Sky Through a Photographer's Lens

9. Incorporating Clouds in Landscape Photography

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Although clouds can be fascinating subjects on their own, they are also absolutely vital in more general landscape photography. Usually occupying a large section of a landscape frame, the sky define the composition and mood of an image greatly by presence or absence of clouds. Competent landscape photographers know how to employ clouds to improve their compositions and produce more dynamic, interesting pictures. In landscape photography, clouds serve mostly as means of adding scale and depth to an image. Particularly when combined with a powerful foreground feature, a sky full of many cloud forms can convey distance and perspective. Additionally acting as a natural framing for landscape elements, clouds help the observer focus on particular regions of the image. Landforms and clouds interacting can generate striking visual stories. Low-hanging clouds floating through mountain valleys, for instance, might inspire mystery and solitude; sunbeams breaking through cloud cover can highlight particular areas of a landscape, therefore implying the divine or supernatural. Moreover, the illumination of a landscape depends much on clouds. Acting as natural diffusers, they soften strong sunlight and produce more equal illumination over a scene. On the other hand, breaches in cloud cover can provide striking spotlighting effects that accentuate particular landscape elements in ways that turn an ordinary view into something remarkable. Cloud movement across a landscape can provide a dynamic component to otherwise still images. Particularly good for capturing this interaction between earth and sky are time-lapse techniques. The inferred motion of clouds can generate a sensation of time passing even in still photos, therefore giving the picture still another dimension. When including clouds into landscape photography, one must carefully balance sky with ground. Although the conventional method of orienting the horizon on the lower third of the frame to highlight a dramatic sky can be successful, photographers should not hesitate to attempt several ratios to fit the particular scene and mood they are seeking to convey. Using clouds to balance and improve the whole composition, the ultimate aim is to establish a harmonic link between the earth's and sky aspects of the image.