Teaching Wednesday - When the Sky Becomes the Subject: Photographing Dramatic Skies - Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
After a couple of months away from Simple Photography Tips, travelling and capturing some images for these posts, and for the 2027 diary - I’m back.
I’ve been thinking about the rhythm of it, and from now on I’m going to try something slightly different: a main photography piece every other week, with Image with Words in between. I'd be interested to know if this is better for you?
Less volume, perhaps, but more time to make each one worth reading.
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Five simple tips for : Photographing Dramatic Skies
1. Ask what made you stop and look.
Before taking the photograph, identify the one thing that really caught your attention.
2. Give the main subject enough space.
If the sky is the most dramatic part of the scene, let it dominate the frame.
3. Don’t be ruled by the rule of thirds.
Composition should serve the subject, not the other way round.
4. Keep enough foreground for scale and context.
A little landscape can make a huge sky feel even bigger.
5. Take the first photograph, then keep looking.
Change position, orientation and framing. The first shot is often only the beginning.
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So, out on one of my closest dog walks, with some attempted black monster training thrown in., I headed up the track, and spread out to the north was the build-up that led to the end of the rainless months of summer.
The summer of drought had left the landscape parched and yellow, and the sky all too frequently without character.
This was about to change. The threat of rain was gradually building, and this particular evening the sky to the north had become wonderfully dramatic, with just a hint of orange between the clouds and the land.
I started by photographing the landscape, but gradually the sky took over.
It is sometimes worth asking yourself what the photograph is really about. Is it the sky or the land? The sky or the sea? Once you have decided, you can then decide how much of the frame each should occupy.
Photographing dramatic skies is often less about camera settings and more about deciding how much of the scene the sky needs to take up for most effect.
These four images show that process. There is no particular right or wrong, but each makes a slightly different decision about what matters most.
Image One is a fairly typical starting point. There's a lone tree in the distance, sitting on the skyline, and it was that, combined with the rather ethereal glow above and around it that prompted me to take the first image.
I’ve placed the tree pretty much in the centre for dramatic effect. Sometimes the rule of thirds is best ignored.
Image Two becomes more dramatic simply by tilting the camera back. I’ve trimmed away much of the foreground and allowed the sky to take over.
The tree from the previous image now sits close to the lower intersection of the thirds, but the important change is not really about rules. It is about deciding that the sky deserves more of the frame.
Image Three shows how quickly even a landscape scene can change, as the weather sweeps in.
I chose to zoom in, switching lenses on the iPhone 14 Pro, bringing the skyline tree closer and concentrating more on the wonderful grey-on-grey-on-grey layering of the clouds.
Image Four shows again why the rule of thirds, as useful as it is, should never become a rule you feel obliged to obey.
I panned further east and used the narrow strip of hillside and beech trees almost as a base for the enormous sky above.
The land is still important, but mostly because it gives scale to the weather.
Perhaps the simplest lesson from these four images is to ask yourself what really caught your eye, then let that guide the composition, and further images. Play around with angles and perspectives.
If you would like to become more confident with your photography, without drowning in jargon or buying more equipment, subscribe to Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth.
The Wednesday posts are practical, simple and intended to help you make better photographs with whatever camera you already have, including the phone in your pocket.
And if you would like to go a little further than simply reading the tips, I’m also developing a small, more active space for people who want regular prompts, encouragement and the chance to put the ideas into practice.
No fancy equipment or advanced knowledge needed. Just a wish to become more confident, and to look a little more carefully.
If that sounds interesting, please get in touch.
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