I've been flat with a sore throat and a bit of fever, so forgive me if I sniff or clear my throat. I'm asking you for your forgiveness and your indulgence in advance. I want to talk about clouds today.
I want to talk about clouds today. Clouds add drama to your photographs, and a dull, flat sky robs your photos of that drama.
If someone ranks cities by the beauty or ugliness of the skies, Delhi will rank high on ugliness and low on beauty.
When I first photographed Delhi in Bombay many years ago, I shot with black-and-white film and always used filters. The filters you usually use to contrast in black-and-white film photography are: yellow, green, yellow, green, orange, and red.
Think about the colors of the spectrum: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Yellow and green are close to blue. Orange and red are further away from blue. So, what happens when you use a yellow filter? The yellow filter will let in some of the blue wavelengths and block some, so the sky will appear darker than white but slightly grayish. When you use an orange or red filter, they block out most of the blue wavelength, and the sky looks almost black.
However, if you're using a red filter and photographing somebody wearing something red, maybe… I don’t know…. if it's one of those fire thingies, it will appear almost white because it's got a lot of red, and the red filter will let in all the red wavelength, exposing the film more than you would if you used a yellow filter.
Complex or not?
So I'd use a red or orange filter, darken the sky, and sometimes make it look almost black—the dark, inky sky against the white, fluffy, textured clouds created magic for me. And I nearly became cliched in my photography.
Many years later, I went to live in Shanghai and became used to the dull gray-blue sky, which was flat. There was no drama, no story. It was a rare day when the sky was clear. And then I ran to the rooftop to gawk at the colors of the sky.
Years later, I moved to Singapore and realized, “Hello! The sky can be blue.”
But, to be honest, Beijing also had some beautiful blue skies. I have added a few photographs to this podcast episode, so have a look at the photographs. First, look at the group of similar pictures and then at the photograph I shot in Shanghai many years ago.
Like I said, I was flat. I was lying on my bum, and I had started a visual diary, so I photographed pictures from my study window over seven to ten days. I've chosen to share just about four or five of them. Now, to ensure consistency, I photographed the scene at almost the same time every day. The lighting conditions are the same from the twin perspectives of the season and the sun's angle.
Many years ago, we had trees and open ground in front of our building, but the construction company DLF fully believes in Albert Einstein's dictum. Albert once said nature abhors a vacuum, and DLF abhors empty ground and green spaces.
Whenever they spot trees and open ground, they rush to fill it with concrete to create mini heat islands. But heat is another topic. I've spoken about heat earlier, and I will return to the topic, which is increasingly vital to all of us, especially in the years ahead.
So, have you looked at the images now? If so, you may notice that the clouds significantly affect the image and the foreground. But the construction is ugly.
The two best ones are the ones with the blue sky and fluffy clouds and the photo with dramatic rain clouds. These images, with the beautiful sky and clouds, at least
lift the pictures to some extent. The ones with the flat sky highlight the horror in front of my building. There's one photograph with rain, but the effect of the rain is not so apparent, and this has reduced the drama of the image. The image has low contrast and is relatively flat.
Now, turn your attention to the photograph of the Shanghai skyline. I shot this from my rooftop many years ago, in October. The sky was clear, the sun was angled, and the color of the clouds in the setting sun, combined with the skyline, helped me create beautiful images, even though I used an ancient camera.
Let me digress. Great cameras, sophisticated lenses, tripods, timed shutter release gadgets, filters, and other equipment help you make excellent photos.
However, a photographer once told me that Ansel Adams photographed with a camera that, by today's standards, was primitive. And yet, when you look at his photographs, you will still realize they are magical. There is something that you cannot, under any circumstances, say, “This is crap, or this is going to look crap in five years from now.”
I believe the images he made will be the standard for years to come, yet his equipment was ancient.
Look for dramatic elements in your composition. Pay attention to the light and the clouds.
Photography starts with having a keen eye and not possessing a truckload of sophisticated and expensive gear. Many photographers are trying to lighten the gear because it's just too heavy to have all this costly, heavy crap hanging around your neck.
I shot the images outside my home with my OnePlus Ten G Pro mobile phone, which I set to ultra-zoom. As a result, the buildings at the photo's edges appear distorted.
If my memory is correct, I remember shooting the Shanghai skyline with my Nikon D70 camera, and I have not edited a single image. Everything that you see is straight out of the camera or straight out of the phone.
So remember the key message. Clouds are critical in creating the story of your photograph, especially when you are shooting outdoors. Of course, clouds have no role to play when shooting indoors, but clouds are critical for a cityscape or the landscape. They add life to the sky and a beautiful touch of drama. So see you next time. Keep shooting. Stay well, ciao, for now.
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