Why you should check the weather forecast before going out to shoot photos?

This post has been written by me well before the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) started, when there were no restrictions on the movement on the streets and gathering of people. I hope that the current crisis associated with the COVID-19 will end sooner or later, and we will return to the ordinary life when we could walk on the streets and take photos. Taking into account that a lot of people are stuck in their homes right now and find themselves in self-isolation by reading books, blogs and educating themselves, I decided to publish this article that will help particularly the photography beginners to understand why it is so important to check the weather forecast before going out.

The weather conditions are not only important factor that should be considered before going out to school, work or just a walk. Not surprisingly, but they are important also for the outdoor photography.

Regardless of what kind of a photographer you are – a beginner, amateur or professional – you should check the local weather forecast before going out for shooting street and urban photography, landscape photography or your friends and family members somewhere outside.

Fortunately, the apps in our computers and smartphones allow us to find out weather conditions for the current day precisely, well almost precisely, by hours, and even for the coming days.

Weather forecast can also help you to plan better your daily photographic intentions that are so important for you when you want to focus on specific aspects and spots while walking down the streets or being out somewhere in the nature.

Here are some of my personal observations, considerations and tips for you: 

• Sunny weather. If after the rain, then you can shoot stunning reflections. Sunny weather allows you to shoot reflections in puddles, glass windows and walls, car windows, any glass surfaces, etc.

Sunny weather is also good for shooting interesting shadows. It would be also good to know where the sun is going to shine, from which side.

You can check the online maps at home before going out, especially if you are in the city or location somewhere abroad and you are not familiar with it. It will help you to understand whether there will be shadows or direct sunlight, that is useful for knowing your precise shooting position so that you could be aware of backlit or frontlit objects that you are going to shoot.

Fortunately, nowadays there are different compass apps in smartphones that could be helpful to understand the trajectory of the sun at your location during the day, namely, where the sun jumps, where there will be its peak and where the sun will go down in the evening, so that you could know when the “golden hour” could be better spent to shoot photos.

• Rainy and overcast. This kind of weather is good for shooting raindrops on windows, people with interesting umbrellas or wet people without umbrellas, jumping people over the puddles, etc.

You can wait for a particular colour umbrella that is the same as any other object on the street on the foreground, background, left or right. It can make a good contrast in the scene and balance the scene.

Jumping people over the puddles are also worth to consider focusing on. If it rains in the evening when it is dark, then you can shoot interesting reflections on the ground coming from pedestrians, cars, public transport and traffic lights or any street’s lighting.

• Snowing. Usually the winter landscape looks black and white. So, you can switch your brain to black and white while thinking of a shot.

Sometimes there could be something contrasting, for example, green, blue, yellow, orange or red that stands out on this black and white winter’s scene. So, if you see something like that, you can keep your shot in colour and focus on shooting this kind of photos where your colourful objects will stand out and contrast.

So, I hope that the abovementioned observations, considerations and tips will help you in shooting better photographs, never miss a good shot, and save you the time that is very important especially when you want to capture a dynamic life of a street that changes in seconds and you do not have enough time for planning your shot, adjusting camera settings and your physical position where you should stand better with your camera.