Dramatic weather, shifting atmospheres and rare celestial events offer some of the most powerful and visually striking opportunities you can capture – when you're willing to embrace the elements and leave the house.
While shooting in these conditions isn't always comfortable – or predictable – they reward preparation and adaptability.
Understanding when and where to shoot, how to protect yourself and your gear, and which camera settings to use can make all the difference between a missed opportunity and portfolio-worth shots.
With the right approach, even the most challenging environments become your creative playground. Here's how to safely photograph thunderstorms, harness the mood of mist and fog, and plan for awe-inspiring celestial events.
Thunderstorms
Best shooting times: Most frequent in spring and summer, especially on hot and humid summer afternoons and evenings.
Safety precautions: Always photograph from inside a building or a car to dissipate any potential energy from lightning strikes.
Camera settings: Focus the camera lens on infinity, use a low ISO of about 100-500, aim for a medium aperture of f/8, and lengthen your shutter speed to 5 to 20 seconds.
Tips: To effectively convey the size of the lightning flashes, consider incorporating landscapes or cityscapes into the composition rather than solely focusing on the thunderstorm. This approach accentuates the dramatic impact of the storm.
Additionally, creating a series of images showcasing the lightning flashes enables you to merge frames in post-processing, enhancing the photograph’s overall dramatic effect. Don’t forget to secure your camera on a tripod to facilitate a seamless merge process during editing.
Mist & Fog
Best shooting times: Mostly common in the early morning hours or evening hours.
Safety precautions: Humidity, condensation and water in the air can ruin non-water-sealed gear and create the conditions for fungus to grow. When you are back home, dry your kit to maintain its quality and longevity.
Camera settings: Use a lens of 70-200mm or even 100-400mm to compress the distance and heighten the effect of the mist.
Tips: Most common near the shores or water. Getting on a high viewpoint and shooting down is an effective way to showcase the mist or fog. Photographing in a dense forest is also great for showcasing both, especially when changing the perspective and shooting straight upwards into tree crowns, which mystically become enveloped by the conditions.
Celestial events
Best shooting times: Apps such as PhotoPills can help you find specific dates.
Safety precautions: Visit the location beforehand to get familiar with the surroundings. On the day, ensure you’re in place before it gets dark. Take a head torch to help you see in the dark environment.
Camera settings: Mount the camera on a tripod, focus the lens to infinity, use an open aperture and a shutter speed of approximately 1/4sec, push the ISO higher if needed, and use the self-timer shutter option.
Tips: To showcase the night sky, stars or other phenomena with a clear approach, light pollution is your biggest enemy. It is caused by surrounding light sources and is a common problem in urban areas. Aim to visit places that are far away from the city and check the light pollution intensity online. These maps determine the intensity of light pollution, using the Bortle Scale on a measure from one (dark sky) to nine (severely light-polluted).
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