Are You A Fair Weather Photographer? To Win Photo Contests, Shoot In Bad Weather!

Jun 12
07:54

2012

Dan Eitreim

Dan Eitreim

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If you have been shooting all of your photographs in good weather, you are missing out on some of the most dramatic photo opportunities! Here is a photography project that can have you winning photo contests in no time!

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Are you a fair weather photographer? If so,Are You A Fair Weather Photographer? To Win Photo Contests, Shoot In Bad Weather! Articles you are missing out on some terrific opportunities! Look at all the better "coffee table" photo books and photo contest winners, I think you will find that many of the best shots were done in bad weather.

Just before a rainstorm, the clouds in the sky can be very dynamic! Or, just after a rainstorm - those rainbows can often make or break a landscape photo. Add in the dynamic colors of a dawn or dusk sun - and you've got something pretty awesome!

Caution... before you head out in or just before a rainstorm; be sure you are adequately protecting your camera gear. Electronics and water don't mix well together. Generally covering a camera with a plastic bag of some sort will do the trick. Don't actually shoot while it is raining.

Driving home the notion of electronics and water not mixing, I once read a question and answer about it some place - probably a photo forum. I'm paraphrasing but the question was something like, "If I drop my camera in the water at the beach, what should I do?"

The answer was something like, "Get the camera out of the water as fast as possible and completely dry it off, both inside and out. Once it is dry, put the camera back together and then throw it back into the water as far as you can! It's never going to work again!"

Now, to be fair, they were talking about salt water which is highly corrosive. If your camera gets wet with non-salt water, it can sometimes be fixed. Accent on the word SOMETIMES! Don't chance it!

Here is a bad weather project you can do… Churches!

Once you see the photo results, you may be the only person in your area that cheers when the weatherman predicts bad weather!

If you set yourself a goal of getting stunning dawn and or dusk photos - with the added drama of inclement weather skies, you can create something a lot of people are going to want! Plus, you will learn a LOT about landscape photography, inclement weather photography and so on.

Keeping in mind that bad weather doesn't come around every day, you will want to scout out your locations in advance. When the time comes, there shouldn't be any question about where you are going to go and where you are going to set up your shot.

Shoot fast and you may be able to get in a couple different locations before you lose the dramatic light. Shoot fast, but stay put until you get a winner. It won't do much good to get shots of a lot of locations if they aren't well done.

Plan to start shooting before the sun actually comes up over the horizon. Even while below the horizon, it will still be lighting the sky and can make some pretty cool silhouettes. Same with dusk - keep shooting until about an hour after the sun goes down!

What to do with the photos?

Once you have a collection of photos of all the churches, temples, mosques and so on in your community…

1. Put together your own coffee table book! It can be marketed to the Chamber of Commerce or other service organizations. They love stuff like that.
2. You can also contact each church and sell them enlarged prints. Or you can donate the prints in exchange for the opportunity to take portraits of their congregation.
3. Contact wedding photographers in the area and offer to sell them prints for their wedding clients. A highly dramatic print of the church they got married in will add a lot to a wedding album.
4. Or, just use them to blow your competition out of the water in the local photo contest!

Note: the photographer mentioned above will initially think he can do the photos himself and will refuse. Point out the unique skies, getting out of bed before dawn and all the other work involved and they will generally not want to go through the effort. Pro photographers are as lazy as the rest of us!

Not to mention, pro wedding photographers are tight on time. If nothing  else, you will get to meet all the wedding photographers in your area. Networking works! They may even employ you from time to time as a backup.

Whether or not you want to try this project, try dragging yourself out of bed and shooting at dawn in inclement weather. Come up with your own coffee table photo book and photo contest ideas! It's fun!

I'm sure that winning photo contests is in your immediate future.

To get the best shots, you will need a solid grounding in the basics of photography... For more information, check out the resource box!