Clouds are a timeless photography subject. They’re beautiful and constantly changing, giving photographers fresh inspiration every hour. They make great backgrounds, too. Depending on the weather or time of day, you can use clouds to evoke all kinds of emotions, from grief to bliss.
For these reasons, we decided to include clouds in our 2017 Photography Challenge. In the few months since January, we’ve seen a lot of incredible photos of clouds. If you missed this challenge, check it out! It’s never too late to begin.
Not sure where to start? Here are 40 inspiring photos from our Flickr group, as well as some tips to help you capture awesome cloud photos.
Ben – Wild sky
Go out in bad weather.
If you’re always trying to avoid rain, wind, and stormy weather, you’ll be hard-pressed to find truly amazing clouds. Though you can find nice, fluffy clouds in warm, sunny weather, you’ll miss the awe-inspiring beauty of storm clouds if you only go out in good weather.
Ben – Monifieth Burning
Time your shoot for sunset/sunrise.
You can find great clouds in the middle of the day, too, but sunset/sunrise is the easiest time to find a sky worth photographing. Unremarkable clouds can become masterpieces as they take on a range of colors, from pink and orange to deep blue.
Clouds settling in – highlands
Use shorter exposure times.
Clouds tend to move quickly, especially when they’re low to the ground. For this reason, you’re more likely to get well-defined cloud photos if you use shorter exposure times. A longer exposure can still be nice if you’re aiming for a surreal photo, but if you want as little blur as possible, keep the shutter speed fast.
gsketch2000 – Isolated Storm
Use filters.
When you’re heading out to shoot clouds, make sure to take along a polarizing filter and a graduated neutral-density (ND) filter. A polarizing filter will make the sky especially blue and give the clouds good definition. It will also help brighten colors in the foreground and reduce glare on the water’s surface.
A graduated ND filter is useful when there’s too much dynamic range in your photo. In other words, part of the scene is really light, while another part is really dark. This situation can lead to overexposure or underexposure, as you try to balance between the two extremes.
You might experience this problem during a sunset or sunrise, as the brightness of light is changing. You can easily end up underexposing the landscape or overexposing the sky. To fix this issue, try using a graduated ND filter. The top of the filter is darker, while the bottom is lighter. This change can help balance the two extremes, making it easier to capture gorgeous sunset/sunrise clouds.
Robert Felton – Summer Clouds
Shoot on a tripod.
Always a good idea.
Hille Thomasson – magellan…
Jens Fersterra – clouds!
Greg David – Clouds settling in
Manuel Palma – Monument
david constance – Cloud Design 2
aminefassi – Oukaimeden
Ahmad Syukaery – Vang Vieng Landscape
Ahmer Inam – Cascades
noureddine zekri – arbre en fleur
Peony71 – Reflecting Memories
Carina – I’m chasin’ the clouds away
Azfar Nasirudin – In Another Life.
Елена Пејчинова – Layers, light and clouds
Barbara Schultheis – Serenity
Robert Felton – Cardington Cloudscape
Josu Txintxurreta – Aketxe
Jens Fersterra – clouds ‘n lights
the__edge – Halfway
aminefassi – Before the Rain 2
Елена Пејчинова – Impelling clouds
Carina – a cloud
Robert Felton- Summer Clouds
Richard Watkins – Field, Sky & Clouds
Peony71 – Let the Sunshine in
vittorio vida – Arizona cloud
Peony71 – Grey Skies and Cloudy Days
Robert Felton – Another Day Another Sky
Robert Felton – Dog Farm Lake Cloudscape
Clif Fodge – God’s Country
aminefassi – Oukaimeden
Ansgar Trimborn – Change
Greg David – Fire in the sky
Fotis Mavroudakis – Field of sunflower
Philippe ABOULIN – Clouds
Silvio Prahl – Clouds
